Let’s Zoom Out Before We Zoom In

For decades, India played a single role in global higher education: the world’s largest exporter of students.

Every year, lakhs of Indian families converted aspiration into airline tickets, foreign tuition, and long-term migration bets.

That model is cracking.

Rising geopolitical friction, volatile visa regimes, shrinking post-study work rights, and unsustainably high costs have introduced a new emotion into Indian decision-making: risk aversion.

Parents are no longer just asking “Which country?” They’re asking, “What if things change mid-degree?”

Into this uncertainty steps a bold experiment:
Foreign universities are coming to India.

Enabled by the 2023 regulations of the University Grants Commission and philosophically backed by the National Education Policy 2020, India has opened its doors to select, globally ranked universities with unprecedented autonomy.

Our CEO offered a timely overview of this shift in the context of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025. Read the article here .

This is not incremental reform.
This is a structural shift.

But structural shifts don’t succeed on intent alone. They succeed—or fail—on execution, realism, and respect for the market.

Let’s talk plainly about what’s required, what demand really looks like, and how this story is likely to play out.

1. What FHEIs Must Do to Succeed in India (Not Just Enter It)

Approval is procedural. Credibility is earned.

India Is Not a “Pilot Market”

Universities that treat India as an experiment will struggle. Those who treat it as a core geography will endure.

• Long-term capital allocation (think decades, not intakes)
• Local academic leadership with real authority
• Governance models that move fast without compromising standards

India is administratively complex, academically demanding, and socially discerning. It rewards seriousness and exposes half-measures quickly.

Program Choices Will Decide Fate

India does not need volume. It needs precision.

• AI, data, and cybersecurity
• Climate, energy, and sustainability
• Design and creative economies
• Public policy, urban planning, fintech

Generic offerings dilute brand equity faster in India than in most markets.

Faculty Is the Real Brand

• Strong resident faculty hired in India
• Meaningful global faculty rotation—not ceremonial visits
• Investment in research support, not just teaching loads

Buildings impress briefly. Faculty builds legacy.

Outcomes Must Be Visible Early

• Internships embedded into the curriculum
• Industry-validated projects
• Career support starting from Year One

Anything else is perceived as theory without payoff.

2. Does India Have the “Stomach” for These Campuses?

The demand story is real—but nuanced.

• 4.33 crore students in Indian higher education
• ~9 lakh Indian students studying abroad in 2023
• ~15% drop in outbound mobility in early 2024

This has created a new decision profile: families that value global standards but want optionality, proximity, and risk control.

This market is not infinite.
It comfortably supports quality. It rejects excess.

3. Impact on Enrolment, Quality, and Cost

Enrolment Dynamics

These campuses will not disrupt India’s elite public institutions. They will, however, pressure tier-1 private universities and institutions charging international-level fees without international outcomes.

Academic Quality

At best: faster curriculum renewal, higher research expectations, skills-centric assessment, and stronger faculty accountability.

At worst: imported content, shallow localisation, and premium pricing without depth.

Cost Reality

₹8–20 lakh per year is expensive—but compared to ₹50–80 lakh overseas degrees, it represents cost rationalisation, not compromise.

4. Do These Campuses Become Pipelines to Parent Universities?

History answers this clearly.

• 10–30% of students typically transition to the parent campus
• Academic readiness improves
• Visa risk reduces
• Career outcomes strengthen

These campuses are not endpoints.
They are filters and feeders.

5. Forecast to 2035: Who Thrives, Who Retreats

Strong Probability of Success

• Research-driven universities
• Institutions aligned with India’s workforce priorities
• Campuses deeply integrated with industry and policy
• Leadership willing to localise without diluting standards

High Risk of Struggle

• Brand-only expansions
• Overpriced generalist programs
• Thin faculty pipelines
• Short-term financial logic

Industry-level outlook: 60–65% stabilise and scale, ~20% pivot or consolidate, 15–20% exit quietly over a decade.

Closing Perspective: What This Really Signals

This moment is bigger than campuses and regulations.

It signals that India is moving from:

a source of students to a site of global knowledge creation.

For students, it introduces choice with control.
For universities, it offers scale with scrutiny.
For India, it upgrades the academic ecosystem if executed with integrity.

But let’s end on a hard truth.

India will not reward logos.
It will reward commitment, competence, and continuity.

Foreign universities that understand this will build lasting legacies here.
Those who don’t will discover that India is welcoming but never naïve.

This isn’t the globalisation of Indian education.
It’s the test of global education in India.