India's Education Minister Says Foreign Universities Will Have to Observe Quota Law

New Delhi — Foreign universities seeking to set up campuses in India will have to follow the government’s quota policies that reserve almost 50 percent of all seats at higher-education institutions for members of economically disadvantaged castes and classes, Kapil Sibal, the country’s minister in charge of higher education, told parliament on Wednesday, The Times of India reported.

Since taking office, in late May, Mr. Sibal has often reiterated his desire for foreign universities to operate in India. This is the first time, though, that he has said categorically that those institutions would have to observe government-set quotas. Opponents of the idea of allowing foreign universities to operate here have said that they will limit access to higher education for needy students because they will charge much higher fees than government-run colleges do.

“All institutions must be inclusive,” Mr. Sibal said in a debate in parliament on Wednesday. “If any institution has to set up in India, then it has to ensure a place for backward castes. There is no compromise on it.”

Mr. Sibal said that treating foreign institutions like Indian ones was an obligation under the World Trade Organization’s principles, The Economic Times reported, although he did say that the quota system would not apply to any Ph.D. programs offered by foreign universities.

Mr. Sibal’s remarks about quotas for foreign universities could foreshadow the Indian government’s move to impose quotas on private higher-education institutions here as well. A bill to extend quotas to the private sector is pending in parliament. —Shailaja Neelakantan