Toronto : Many Canadian universities and colleges are likely to enter India after the Indian parliament passes a bill to allow foreign educational institutions to set up independent campuses in the country.
Currently, universities and colleges from Canada and the US run 26 collaborative projects in India with local universities and colleges.
"The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, the Canada-India Business Council and we have been lobbying Canadian universities to open campuses in India," Hussain Neemuchwala of the Canada-India Business Council education committee said, labelling the proposed bill a "welcome step".
The Indian cabinet on Monday cleared a proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India, a step that is expected to provide quality education in the country and reduce the flow of Indian students abroad.
‘Milestone'
"This is a milestone, which will enhance choices, increase competition, and benchmark quality," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Because of visa and other problems, less than 4,000 Indian students come to Canadian universities and colleges each year, compared to 80,000 going to the US, 50,000 to Britain, and 40,000 to Australia.
"The Indian bill solves all these problems. Now Canadian universities will go there and impart world-class education," said Neemuchwala, who was part of an education mission by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce to India last month. Quite a few Canadian universities already run programmes in India.
Among these, Toronto-based York University is the coordinating institution for education linkages and exchange programmes with various Indian institutions.
