Rajasthan new hotspot for foreign universities

Jaipur: Earlier, it was private universities booming in Rajasthan. However, seeing the huge potential in higher education sector foreign universities are now planning to open campuses in Rajasthan.

Since the time, when Government of India gave nod to the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010, a number of foreign universities have started making efforts to enter into education sector in India.

In fact, Rajasthan seems to have become favourite destination for foreign players as the state has huge potential to provide infrastructure, ample space and its proximity to the national capital. Recently, officials with the California based Claremont Graduate University have surveyed Rajasthan to identify possibilities of establishing campuses in future.

"Earlier, we were considering Delhi for as viable option. However, we felt that a lot of educational institutions already exist over there with lesser scope of infrastructure. We also realised that a large number of students from Rajasthan were going abroad to pursue higher studies. Therefore, we thought establishing our campus here will help students to get world class education by spending less and without leaving their country," said Mumtaz Kutty, dean (India), Claremont Graduate University (California).

"We also noticed that the quality of education till undergraduate level in Rajasthan is good, however, there is no real academic leadership for postgraduate programmes as compared to southern states," she added.

As of now, the Claremont Graduate University will start Masters of Science in Information Systems and Technology (MS-IST) from July 1, 2011. The duration of the course will be of 11 months. This year the university will run a temporary campus at Chennai, where the PhD holders from the United States will visit every month to deliver lectures. In addition to this, the university will also start seven other programs. The university officials look forward to set up a campus in partnership with other private investors in Rajasthan.