What role does International collaboration play in the NEP?
For the size that India is, it is a country where international engagement in education is still an emerging activity. India may be one of the largest senders of international students in the world, but numbers are so far small relative to the potential pool of students.
India’s approach towards international education collaboration is however changing rapidly. This comes at a time where players in international education should be looking to diversify into new markets.
The good news is that the NEP provides a glimpse into how the Indian government envisions internationalization of education to develop. The lesser news – a glimpse is all it is . What is clear from the NEP is that India intends to focus domestically, with a potential plan to priorities attracting international students rather than sending them overseas and internationalizing domestic campuses.
NEP internationalization policy
According to the NEP, India will be promoted as a global study destination that provides quality education at an affordable cost. All HEIs hosting international students will have an international students’ office tasked with welcoming students from overseas and supporting them during their studies.
The education system will facilitate collaboration with institutions overseas in research and teaching, as well as in faculty and student exchange. MOUs deemed beneficial to both potential overseas partners and domestic HEIs will be approved.
The NEP encourages top Indian universities to establish campuses overseas, while universities ranked among the top 100 in the world will be welcomed to set up in India. A legislative framework facilitating this will be established but has of yet not materialized.
Credits from overseas institutions can now count towards a degree in India. This should open up the possibility of shorter-term exchanges or studying part of a degree overseas.
The NEP suggests that the internationalization of Indian education will concentrate at home. Coining the term ‘internationalisation at home’, the policy focusses on attracting students to India and is framed within a wider goal to create a greatly improved learning environment within the Indian HE sector.
Analysis
Internationalization is one of the smallest sections in the plan, only taking up about a third of one its 65 pages. While important for potential collaborators outside of India, the section’s brevity signals that India’s international strategy isn’t an immediate priority.
What limited words are given to internationalization appear in a subheading under section 12 of the document: “Optimal Learning Environments and support for Students”. This suggests internationalization is predominantly seen as leverage to improve education back home.
India must establish itself as having a strong offering before international students flock to its doors. According to the 2022 Time Higher Education rankings, India has only 4 universities in the world top 500. As of yet India cannot rely on the reputation of its institutions to draw international students.
The standing of Indian university’s globally also highlights another potential problem - the policy is arguably not equitable with potential partners. The NEP states that only top 100 international institutions will be welcome to set up campuses in India. India however cannot return the favor. This could limit how many universities are willing to build partnerships in India., although it is arguable that partnerships are more often judged in commercial rather than status terms.
That said, more international students are coming to India every year. In 2020, 49,300 international students were studying in India, an increase of 74% on 2012. To grow this number further, the Indian HE sector must appeal to a wider audience than regional neighbours, who currently account for the bulk of international enrolments.
The NEP is a high-level document and other guidelines and frameworks will eventually dictate how policy is enacted. While it is difficult to draw many conclusions from this document alone, how internationalisation of Indian education will develop should become clearer as specific guidelines are released.