INDIA: Red tape tangles US universities' entry

The United States has cited Indian bureaucracy and uncertainty over the Foreign Education Providers Bill as two major bottlenecks for setting up campuses of its foreign universities in India, writes Chetan Chauhan for the Hindustan Times.

The report prepared by Patricia Chow and Kimberly Cho with the help of the US-India Education Foundation, also says that the Foreign Education Providers' Bill, which aims to alleviate bureaucratic hurdles, has an "uncertain future" even though it has been introduced in parliament. "Disputes within the Indian government, as well as with private [education] providers has slowed down passage of the bill", the guide named Expanding US Study Abroad to India said.

The report also suggests that US institutions' interests in initiating large-scale operations in India may want to focus on joint- and dual-degree programmes in partnership with Indian institutions, rather than wait for future opportunities to establish brick and mortar branch campuses in the country.
Full report on the Hindustan Times site