New Delhi
India's minister in charge of higher education will meet next week with the heads of at least six top American universities that he hopes to persuade to set up campuses in India, The Telegraph reported.
Since taking office, in May, the minister, Kapil Sibal, has publicly endorsed the entry of foreign universities into India. A long-delayed bill outlining the regulations for the entry of foreign higher-education providers is expected to pass by the beginning of India's next academic year, in July 2010, Mr. Sibal told The Chronicle last week.
Mr. Sibal is leaving for the United States on Saturday and is expected to meet with the presidents of Boston, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, and Yale Universities, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Press Information Bureau said in a news release. In addition, The Telegraph said, citing unnamed sources, that the minister also planned to meet with officials of the University of North Carolina and the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Sibal will also hold ministerial-level talks with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to discuss greater collaboration in education between the two countries.
Foreign universities have concerns on two key issues, unnamed ministry sources told The Telegraph. The foreign institutions want to be able to repatriate any profits to their home country, which the draft bill prohibits. Those universities are also concerned about a lack of clarity on the ownership of intellectual property generated on Indian campuses of foreign universities, the sources said.
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