A new UK India Business Council report, ‘Beyond the Top 200’, sets out how India’s new higher education policy could accelerate India’s rise to superpower status by enabling young Indians to receive the world’s best higher education in India through greater availability of the top courses provided globally.
The report, launched in the margins of the FICCI Higher Education Summit concluded last week in New Delhi, advocates for effective international collaboration in Indian higher education.
On the path to becoming the 21st global superpower, India will need is rightly placing excellence, equal access, and employability at the heart of expanding its higher education system.
As the report highlights, UK higher education institutions can, and want, to play an important role in supporting this goal at every level and to meet this challenge, Richard Heald, UKIBC Chief Executive, said, “we are highly encouraged that the government of India is creating policy to allow foreign universities to operate in the country. This is a welcome step that would allow the best courses, teaching, and facilities available globally to directly change lives in India”.
“However, there is consideration being given by the Committee developing India’s new policy to allow only the top 200 globally ranked universities to participate with the best Indian institutions. We think this will limit the supply of genuinely top-quality learning opportunities for Indians”, he noted.
Building on Heald’s comments, Tara Panjwani, UKIBC’s head of higher education, said, “to truly unlock the potential of India’s young population, a more flexible approach is needed. Our report, therefore, recommends that all institutions, whether Indian or foreign, public or private, and irrespective of ranking, be permitted to forge international partnerships should it demonstrate, to both parties, real added value. Only this way can international collaboration meet the demand of India’s students, institutions, and employers.”
The report was launched in the midst of UKIBC’s bespoke delegation of seven leading UK Higher Education institutions to Delhi and Mumbai exploring future collaboration in the sector between two countries.
During the five-day visit, delegates attended the FICCI higher education summit and interacted with all the key stakeholders in India’s higher education ecosystem, policy makers, higher education institutions, employers, and students.
The delegation comprised of representatives from the Universities of London, Birmingham, Essex, East Anglia, Cardiff, Surrey, and the Eurocentres Language Schools Network.
Zia Yusuf looks on during the party's national conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Britain, September 5, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
