UGC to regulate entry of foreign universities

new delhi: the university grants commission (ugc) has finalised the mechanism for regulating the entry of foreign universities in the country. no university will now be able to gain entry and set up 'shop' without first registering and seeking the approval of the higher education body. those who are already operating will be given a stipulated time in which to register.the move has come after the virtual flooding of the indian education market by such universities offering phoren degrees. the registration process, said ugc chairman hari gautam, will be rigorous and taking into account details like accreditation of the university in its own country, the course content of programmes offered, the fee structure, the faculty, among other things. the commission has sent the proposal to the ministry of human resource development for final approval. ``an expert committee will examine the proposal and the university will be allowed entry only after approval,'' gautam added. he had earlier told the times of india that the ugc might seek the help of the ministry of home and external affairs to ``prevent anyone from sneaking in''. ugc, however, is not the only body framing guidelines in this respect. an official intimation earlier this year had also asked the all india council for technical education to frame guidelines. while both the ugc and the aicte are of the opinion that ``banning'' the entry of foreign varsities is ``not practical'' in this era of globalisation, the attempt now is aimed at ``rationalisation'' to prevent students from getting ``cheated''. advisor to the aicte i k bhat said any university, offering a technical programme would have to consult the aicte. the process of framing the guidelines is underway, he said. ``there are many universities starving for students in their own countries but they are opening up shops here,'' said bhat. most of them collaborate with indian institutes and in many cases the students are not sent abroad. another concern is the comparatively high fee structure of these universities. ``these universities are not good like the harvard or the mit. and they charge rs 4 to 6 lakh or higher for programmes sitting here in india,'' said an aicte official. ``at present, there are a number of universities which are not accredited even in their own countries,'' said bhat. hence, the most important issue, he added, is accredition, which shall automatically ensure the quality. in fact, the issue came to the fore when some universities from australia and the united kingdom came to the country three years back. ``these universities were not even recognised in their own countries,'' bhat said. following this, a public interest litigation was filed in the madras high court which ruled that all such universities should specify the courses which are not recognised by the ugc or the aicte. it is after this that the matter was picked up by the hrd ministry.