Govt says Bill on foreign univs cleared, then says not yet

A landmark bill, which allows foreign universities to set up campuses in India, led to a lot of confusion after today’s Cabinet meeting.

A landmark bill, which allows foreign universities to set up campuses in India, led to a lot of confusion after today’s Cabinet meeting.

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Information and Broadcasting, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, announced that the Union Cabinet cleared the bill. While briefing the media on the Cabinet meeting, Dasmunshi said, “The Cabinet has approved the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill that will allow foreign universities to set up their campuses here, while ensuring that education isn’t commercialised, high standards of quality are maintained and fly-by-night operators are kept out.” Dasmunshi said the bill would be introduced in the Budget session.

Minutes later, HRD ministry officials clarified that the bill was deferred, as Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh was not present at the meeting. They said that out of three HRD items on the Cabinet’s agenda, the proposals to set up a new IIM at Shillong and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohali were cleared. The third, the Bill on the entry of foreign universities, was deferred due to the minister’s absence.

Story continues below this ad

When contacted, Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi cleared the air. “It (Foreign Education Providers Regulation Bill) has not been cleared. As the HRD Minister was not present and this is a sensitive issue, it has been deferred to the next meeting of the Cabinet,” he said.

The proposal to let in foreign universities had come up for the Cabinet’s consideration last year, but it was referred to a Group of Ministers headed by Arjun Singh. The GoM met recently to finalise its suggestions. While the HRD Ministry pilots the Bill, the Commerce Ministry has been strongly backing the move, partly because India has committed to letting in foreign universities at the WTO. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, too, was not present at the meeting as he was not in the Capital.