A QUB spokesperson said: “The investment in Gift City is unrelated to the university’s voluntary severance scheme and it is vital to point out that there will be no compulsory redundancies as part of this process … Projected returns from the Gift investment will be reinvested into core university activities and are a key component in supporting the university’s financial sustainability in the years ahead.”.
Prof Aarti Srivastava, head of the higher education and professional education department at National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration in Delhi, said foreign universities were not allowed to operate their own campuses in India until 2023, when changes to regulations opened the doors.
Prof Max Lu, the University of Surrey’s vice-chancellor, was last week exploring a campus opening next year in Gujarat International Finance Tec (Gift) City in Ahmedabad, a special economic zone offering tax exemptions and profit repatriation for high-ranking foreign universities.
UK universities are aiming to leave their financial woes at home by seeking their fortunes in India, in a higher education version of a gold rush towards a market with more than 40 million students.
Nick Hillman, director of the UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute, said: “There is so much pent-up demand for this because India is seen as having more potential than anywhere else for the next wave of internationalisation within UK universities.”.
