Plans to build a new “campus of campuses” near Delhi will provide a chance for UK universities to establish operations in India without having to go it alone, according to the company behind the venture.
GEDU Global Education has announced plans to invest a further ?200 million in India over the next three years in a move that it believes will make it the largest foreign direct investor in the country’s higher education sector.?
The group,?which is headquartered in the UK and operates in 15 countries and has more than 85,000 students,?has already invested ?25 million in India, including a campus in GIFT City, Gujarat, where many of the new university branch campuses are located.
It is now looking to create a GEDU Global Education City, described as “a campus of campuses” that will “provide a home for UK universities who want to provide education in India”.
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It said the investment was designed to “enable and accelerate the export of UK education to India”.
The site will be located close to Delhi and developed in phases, with “students joining the first wave of courses in 2027/28”.
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“We are seeing a strong interest among universities in entering India,” GEDU said.
“They see a range of benefits. Like the exporter of any service or intellectual property, universities will strengthen their income, develop partnerships with Indian business and academic institutions…and build the UK’s soft power in India.”
While GEDU did not name partner institutions, it said discussions were under way with “leading” UK universities.
The group said the Global Education City would serve as a platform for universities seeking to establish their own operations in India without having to navigate the country’s complex regulatory and infrastructure environment alone.
Kevin McCole, GEDU’s managing director, said the group’s role was to act “as an enabler, partnering with UK institutions to help them navigate any regulatory or infrastructure challenges”.
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The universities involved would hold their own degree-awarding powers and be “held to the highest academic standards by regulators”, while GEDU itself would focus on providing infrastructure, financing and operational stability.
Group chief executive?Vishwajeet?Rana, who was part of the business delegation that accompanied Keir Starmer on his trip to India recently, said the project would “enable and accelerate leading UK universities to open branch campuses in India”, allowing Indian students to access “world-class British education, without having to leave their home country”.
He said GEDU wanted to “increase our role in strengthening our country’s education ecosystem and the wider economy.
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“Education is one of the UK’s globally competitive services exports, and we want to work with the government and the education sector to meet the growing demand in India and in other countries.”
GEDU said its investment was driven by?India’s rapid economic growth and youthful demographics.
With 65 per cent of the population under 35 and the economy projected to add $1 trillion to GDP every 12-18 months, the company said there was “unprecedented demand for world-class education in India”.
“UK universities need to be in India to benefit from this demand, otherwise they – and the wider UK economy – will lose out to competitors from other countries,” McCole said.
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