International Branch Campuses in India: Opportunity Overview
India’s higher education reforms are creating new opportunities for international branch campuses to contribute to the country’s growing demand for high-quality education. In this session, Shri Armstrong Pame IAS, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Government of India, outlined the government’s vision for expanding higher education through international collaboration while maintaining a strong focus on quality, employability and national development.
Shri highlighted India’s unique demographic advantage, noting that around 60% of the population is under the age of 35, making the country one of the world’s largest sources of future talent. While acknowledging that Africa’s young population will become increasingly significant over the coming decades, he argued that India currently represents an unparalleled opportunity for higher education providers.
“India is right now at the juncture where whoever thinks that education is the way forward should look at India.”
Central to the government’s strategy is increasing the country’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education from approximately 30% to 50% by 2035. Achieving this will require an estimated 35 million additional learners to enter the higher education system over the next decade – a scale of growth that cannot be met by existing institutions alone.
For this reason, the government is actively encouraging high-quality international universities to establish campuses in India. However, it was stressed that expansion will prioritise quality over quantity.
“We are open, not to every kind of university, but universities with quality.”
The objective is to develop graduates who are prepared to create employment opportunities, not only seek them.
The session also highlighted broader reforms designed to strengthen India’s skills ecosystem. Alongside expanding university provision, the Ministry is modernising polytechnic education through the MERITE scheme, which aims to transform technical and vocational education while improving its attractiveness to students and parents.
International recognition of qualifications was identified as another important area of progress. India has already signed Mutual Recognition of Qualifications agreements with Australia and the United Kingdom, creating clearer pathways for graduates to continue their education and pursue professional opportunities internationally. Work is also underway to expand these agreements into specific skills sectors and additional countries.
Research collaboration was presented as another pillar of India’s internationalisation strategy. Through initiatives such as the SPARC Scheme, the Ministry supports academic partnerships between Indian institutions and leading global universities by funding faculty exchanges, collaborative research and international student mobility. The programme provides financial support for visiting academics and stipends for postgraduate researchers, strengthening long-term research relationships across borders.
The discussion also addressed how international branch campuses should integrate into India’s higher education ecosystem. While foreign institutions are expected to deliver programmes equivalent to those offered at their home campuses, government representatives and university leaders emphasised that collaboration with Indian institutions – in areas such as research, innovation and knowledge exchange – will remain essential to maximising the benefits of internationalisation.
The session concluded that international branch campuses are viewed not simply as additional providers, but as strategic partners in expanding educational opportunity, strengthening research capacity and supporting India’s long-term economic development. By combining global expertise with India’s growing talent base, these partnerships have the potential to play a significant role in achieving the country’s ambitious higher education goals.