Dual degrees, faculty exchange: States bet on foreign university tie-ups, but fine print tells another story

Five years ago, Ammar Khan, then a master’s student at the University of Mumbai’s (MU) National Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology (NCNN), received a surprise call. One of his teachers, who had an acquaintance working at the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT), a top public university in France, told him that the university is looking for international students for their nanophotonics programme and that he should consider applying.

Having never imagined himself studying abroad and unsure of his selection prospects, Khan kept putting off the application until the very last day. But he was ultimately picked for the programme on a full scholarship.

Five years later, Khan has not only completed his master’s at UTT but also advanced to a PhD programme at another French university. During his time in the European nation, he got the opportunity to work in some of the most advanced labs and with the best minds in the discipline. “I wouldn’t have got anything back home that I received here,” he said.

But more importantly, his detour paved the way for the UTT forging stronger ties with two of his alma maters – MU-NCNN and Mumbai’s Wilson College. The two institutes now send a small but steady stream of Indian students to the tech school, which funds most of them. Last year, MU signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UTT, with the two planning joint academic programmes and other forms of collaboration.

International Universities: What kind of ties?

The agreement between MU, one of the oldest public universities in India, and the French institute is among the many transnational academic partnerships formed in the country during the last few years. With the students becoming more aspirational and discerning, global and domestic rankings putting a premium on international linkages and universities looking to replenish the loss in revenue due to tighter immigrant norms, the Indian universities, and even some colleges, are increasingly exploring such ties.

While such collaborations undoubtedly help students, researchers and teachers, the universities are still navigating the right approach towards internationalisation. Signing MoUs with foreign universities offers an alluring brand-building and public relations opportunity, especially in the highly-competitive private university market, but turning them into a meaningful, mutually-beneficial alliance is much trickier.

Experts point out that a superficial approach and a lack of clear communication about the expectations from the collaboration often result in the MoUs being shelved. On the other hand, an incremental and objective-oriented matchmaking has proved to be more effective. They also underscore the need to make international opportunities more equitable through various ‘internationalisation at home’ measures – faculty mobility, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) and integrating curricula with global standards

NEP 2020: UGC policy reform

While the economic liberalisation in the 1990s led to global academic partnerships in the country and made it an emerging destination for foreign students, international linkages have gathered pace only recently. The internationalisation of higher education is a key goal set by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which, among other measures, recommended setting up an International Students Office in each higher education institution and allowing top foreign universities to set up campuses in India.

The NEP was followed by three key new policy measures by the University Grants Commission in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The first offered a set of broad guidelines for academic and research collaborations, credit recognition for ‘twinning’ programmes and brand building, among other aspects of internationalisation. The second and third are regulations for academic collaborations between Indian and foreign universities, and setting up of foreign universities’ India campuses, respectively.

The 2022 regulations on the academic collaborations marked a clear shift from earlier UGC regulations of 2016 and 2012, which had provided an elaborate, centralised approval mechanism for Indian universities to tie up with foreign varsities. Joint degrees were explicitly barred.

Besides regulatory ease, there are active efforts by some state governments to help their varsities reach out to the institutes abroad. For instance, the Karnataka government, in 2023, helped four public universities to join hands with the institutes under the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

In Kerala, the state government has launched Scholar Connect, a platform to foster partnerships between the state’s higher education institutions and its global academic diaspora.

Foreign University Collaborations: Students’ benefit

From the student point of view, such collaborative degrees are a more affordable and convenient alternative to pursuing a course abroad in entirety. “The undergraduate market for students going abroad in India wasn’t very high because parents were not ready to send their kids to foreign universities right after Class 12. But with these partnerships, the student can transfer after a couple of years, when the parents believe that they are more mature,” said Supriya Mathew, vice-president – international affairs at Dayananda Sagar University, Bengaluru.

As for institutes, the exposure to foreign universities afford them a chance to improve everything from their curricula to pedagogy to research. “Better employability for graduates is also a driver for international linkages now, as we are moving from purely academic models to industry-led programmes,” said Aditi Jain, founder and managing director of EKO Consulting, a Delhi-based consultancy for internationalisation of universities.

“The foreign universities are equally interested in entering into partnership with Indian institutions because the source of the major income for international students is already affected,” he added.

Experts said that while earlier collaborations between Indian and foreign universities were limited to the engineering and management programmes, they have now diversified into other disciplines as well. In some instances, individual colleges are entering into their own partnerships with foreign institutes, though they are required to have approval of their parent university. A case in point is a dual-degree master’s course in journalism and mass communication, to be jointly offered by St.Teresa’s College, Ernakulam (Kerala) and Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom (UK).

Joint, Dual Degrees: NITI Aayog survey findings

A recent report on internationalisation of higher education by NITI Aayog, the centre’s policy think tank suggests that the joint and dual degree programmes are yet to become mainstream, as most higher education institutions are focussing on the low-hanging fruits – research collaboration, student exchange and faculty exchange. A survey by the Aayog found that barely 10.49% of formal agreements between Indian and foreign higher education institutes include plans for joint degree programmes, while 17.28% MoUs mentioned dual degrees. By comparison, more than half – 53.07% – institutes had included combined research in their pacts with foreign universities.

The report recommends that the Indian institutes should be encouraged to pursue a “balanced” mix of short-term and long-term initiatives. “Emphasis may be placed on collaborative efforts with shared objectives, which not only strengthen institutional partnerships but also cultivate a sense of global academic community. Priority may be given to building long-term, sustainable partnerships with FHEIs [foreign higher education institutes], reads the report.

However, it’s easier said than done, as the same study reveals that barely half – 51% – of the universities report their collaborative academic programmes have been successful and effective. The NITI Aayog, however, chooses to focus on the gains, pointing out that 26% of universities saw an increase in the number of students participating in exchange programmes and 15% noted more faculty engagement in international exchange programmes.

Around 8% institutes found their placement numbers and packages improving, while a similar number of institutes reported international placements gaining prominence.

Foreign University Tie-ups: Like a ‘courtship’

According to experts, the success of the tie-ups predominantly depend on clearly defining time-bound outcomes and moving ahead in a gradual and deliberative manner. On a lighter note, Jain likes to compare the process to nurture these relationships with the courtship before marriage.

“These partnerships should be scalable, replicable and sustainable. It starts with curriculum mapping, then small mobility programmes followed by curriculum mapping for long-term programmes. We start inviting the [partner university] to our campus; show them our strengths. We start visiting them... It takes at least two to three years,” she said.

If this is indeed the correct approach, MU’s partnership with UTT seems to be on the right track. While the two are yet to create any joint or dual degree programme, MU has already sent a dozen students to UTT for master’s and doctoral programmes. The nanoscience faculty at the two varsities are also engaged in joint research projects, including one on creating a microfluidic device to detect cancer. There are periodic visits from both the universities to each others’ campuses.

“Being a state university, we have limited funding sources. If we get grants from the government, we can accelerate. It takes time to develop trust [with academic partners]. We have developed a very good relationship with UTT,” said Pravin Walke, a professor at MU-NCNN.

The two universities, along with French diplomats in India, are exploring the possibility of joint degrees.

Need international scholarships

While most of the MU students are availing scholarships to study in France, such aid isn’t always available to students seeking to benefit from their varsities’ arrangements with the institutes abroad. The experts have suggested a few ways to ensure that the internationalisation efforts reach a wider section of the students. One of them is inviting foreign faculty to India.

“If a group of 10 students go abroad for a short-term immersion, the exposure is limited only to them, even if they share their experiences after returning. But if we have teachers coming to teach on our campus, the impact is much broader,” said Jain.

Another option is COIL or Collaborative Online International Learning, where a small group of students and faculty members join digitally to study a shared course module. Jain cites the example of a successful eight-month long COIL programme she facilitated between a community college in the United States (US) and an Indian government university.

Then there are cautionary tales of MoUs failing. Mathew narrates an example from a few years ago. “I had set up a 2+2 partnership with a university in the United States (two years of study in India, two years abroad). But the US university quoted us a higher tuition fee than the one they had fixed with outside consultants. When I tried to intervene, they weren’t ready to back down and the partnership didn’t work out,” she said.