Maharashtra Opens Doors to Foreign Private Universities

By Krishna V. Itnal*

Pune: Maharashtra opens doors to foreign private universities. The other day, two articles on Brain Drain appeared in Sakal, the leading daily from Pune. The government has decided to keep open the field of education to ten leading foreign private universities in Mumbai.

On 30th September: The place for the campus selected is near the new airport in New Mumbai, which is likely to be opened on the 30th of September 2025. The reasons for opening the field are very interesting statistically and are on practical lines. 

14 lakh students studying abroad: The first reason is to bring qualitative changes in the field. There is a huge competition and craze among aspiring students to go to foreign countries. As of today, it is said that nearly 14 lakh Indian students are abroad. 

43 Billion Dollar Fees! In 2019, these students remitted a huge fee of 43 billion dollars. In the year 2025, the figure is going to cross 70 billion dollars. On average, each student spends 65 lakh rupees. It means for a four-year course, each student spends 2.5 crore.

Never to return to home, homeland! Secondly, they prefer to stay there only never to return to home homeland. It is estimated that 50,000 IITians have been abroad over the last fifty years. It is further told that for every 1,300 Americans, there is an Indian doctor.

Rs 85,000 Crores every year: In Great Britain, the figure is one for every 1,000 people. Our government spends 85,000 crore on these students every year. The major chunk of 25 per cent goes to IITs and IIMs. When compared to Japan and America, they have more universities than us but our B-grade or C-grade colleges are not market-oriented for the betterment of society. But they are marketeers in fee collection. 

Rolling plan for the next twenty years: Whether in America or Japan, they prepare a rolling plan for the next twenty years, keeping their focus on national development. Among the ten universities, the following are named. Yark and Abardin from the UK. A Western university from Australia, Illinois Institute of Technology from America and Istituto Europeo the Design from Italy

Our students in Russia, France, Germany and New Zealand: The Indian students normally prefer these countries. They are America, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Of late, we see our students in Russia, France, Germany and New Zealand. 

NEP behind in opening doors to foreign private universities: The maximum no of 2, 34, 473 students are there in America this year. Then follows Canada with with2,33,532 and Great Britain with 1,36,921. Our government's National New Education Policy may be behind in opening doors to foreign private universities.

How about the rest of Maharashtra? These ten institutions are going to be centralised in Mumbai alone. How about the rest of Maharashtra and particularly the backwards rural areas? 

A welcome sign to upgrade quality in education: Anyway this initiative is a welcome sign to upgrade quality in education.I don't have knowledge about other states initiative in this direction. I have read the state of Kerala is also going for privatization of education. Let us hope and welcome the changes that are being taken in Maharashtra.

*Krishna V. Itnal is a former Administrative Officer, now based in Pune. A septuagenarian Gandhian is associated with several organisations involved in constructive activities.