Education Fairs such as this are meant to expose the Indian student to what options they might have in the international market. However, the next logical step is the provision of 'educational malls' that like the classic super market will provide students several options under a single roof all the year round. Only then, would the participants in fairs such as this will have the benefit of the students enrolling for courses at the institutions.

Four years ago, London's Middlesex University set up its regional office in India, for recruitment of students to study in the University in UK and to establish collaborative links with partner institutions in South Asia. The growth of these operations has been quite admirable, with an increase of almost a 100% in student numbers each year, giving the University a twenty fold the numbers of Indian students, in these four years. And partners of Middlesex University in India include Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, (rated amongst India's top five Business schools.)

That is a classic first setup in the direction of getting students to study in your institutions. The next step would be the delivery of courses in India. And this presentation will examine the various options on how that can be done, and the benefits that will brings:

Ideally, an international/foregin University Campus in India Should have four partners: i.e.

(a) A University that would be responsible to deliver the academic course software and faculty leadership/visiting faculty. (b) A local Indian partner institution who would provide the infrastructure and some academic curriculum supports if required. (c) Largely an India/South Asian faculty to deliver/teach the course. (d) A financial institution, (e.g.: a bank) from the country concerned that is willing to invest in this venture in India.

If we have these in place then the few options in implementing the proposal are :

Option 1
To offer internationally recognized programmes of study (initially at an undergraduate level ); which will allow the students to transfer their credits to a good University abroad. This option would allow for a vertical progression as also for a horizontal transfer.

Option 2

The college in India could offer 'dual degrees'. The programmes could be devised to incorporate the programmes of some international universities, and this should allow students to earn two degrees, one from the Local College to which they are enrolled in India and the other from the affiliated International University.

Option 3

A group of institutions could collectively offer academic programmes in association with one/multiple Indian partners. For e.g. Universities in London under the banner of the 'London First' initiative. This will offer more options to students under one roof.

Option 4

A Combination of all the above

The most distinctive features of an institution such as this would be:

India would be an initial educational hub for students from Asia, maybe even South East Asia, who aspire to go abroad to procure a degree. Tuition fee would be affordable. This would allow a student to invest in a one-year Masters degree later. The campus would cater to the needs of those students ego are capable, but cannot finance a three-year study programme abroad. Students would be allowed to transfer at any stage during their course of studies to an appropriate course abroad having obtained credits for their studies in India. The college would be International in character and faculty would be from diverse nationalities/backgrounds, many of them would have foreign qualifications. The campus would have state of the art facilities, to provide a top class education experience in India including labs for computer/science/video conferencing, etc. It will be a modern, progressive institution, offering unique professional courses to the students, in keeping with the demands of the local market(s).