Globalisation of Indian Education – UK’s University of Southampton is first foreign university to setup campus in India
UK’s University of Southampton is going to be the first foreign university to come to India to setup campus in Gurugram, under UGC. First academic session likely to begin in July 2025. The fees at the Indian campus are likely to be around 60% of the tuition fees at the Southampton campus but the admission requirements will be the same. The aim is to grow up to 5,500 students in the first eight to 10 years.
University of Southampton is among top 100 in QS World University Rankings.
With this development, the University of Southampton will become the first international university to set up a campus in India under the UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023. The regulations, which allow top 500 foreign universities to set up campuses in India, were prepared in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which envisioned that “top universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India”. UGC guidelines provide autonomy to foreign universities to decide their admission processes and fee structures.
Last year, two Australian universities (1) Deakin University and (2) University of Wollongong opened their branch campuses in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), after receiving approval from the International Financial Services Centre Authorities (IFSCA) last year. The universities do not come under the UGC guidelines.
This is a significant milestone in India’s education system. The initiative will help establish a strong international footprint of ‘brand India’ in the education sphere. This is a growing reality as new technologies and service demands are sought to be harmonised with demographic deficits.
University of Southampton
- The University of Southampton is a public research university in Southampton, England.
- Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom.
- In the 2023 international university rankings, Southampton ranked 78th (QS World University Rankings) and 108th (Times Higher Education World University Rankings).
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Global rankings ARWU (2024) 151–200 QS (2025) 80= THE (2024) 97= - The 2022 Round University Ranking ranked Southampton 72nd globally, and the 2022 CWTS Leiden Ranking placed Southampton 85th worldwide.
- The 2021 U.S. News & World Report ranks Southampton 97th in the world and 11th in the UK.