The University of Leicester is aiming to set up a campus in India, according to its vice-chancellor, as the institution opens a new medical research centre in the country’s south-east.

Speaking to ̽����Ƶ ahead of the opening of the research centre on the campus of Apollo University in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, Nishan Canagarajah said the research hub would help pave the way for a Leicester branch campus in India.

“We need to think about the regulatory and financial aspects, but that is the aim,” said Canagarajah of the university’s foreign ambitions.

This year the University of Southampton will become the first UK university to open an outpost in India when its Delhi campus admits its first student cohort. It aims to have 5,000 students on its branch campus within a decade. Coventry University and the University of Liverpool have also expressed interest in establishing a presence in India.

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Several Australian universities have also announced plans to open campuses in India, with Western Sydney University announcing its intention to open a teaching centre on the edge of New Delhi, following the lead of Deakin and Wollongong universities, which have already set up shop in Gujarat’s special economic zone known as Gift City. It follows the decision by India’s University Grants Commission to loosen rules on overseas branch campuses in line with a policy shift outlined in the country’s 2020 National Education Policy.

Leicester was currently exploring how a India campus might be funded and operated, with a partnership deal most likely, said Canagarajah.

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“It might not be a campus owned and operated by the university, but maybe something where we worked with a local partner who knew the local economic system – that’s a model that might be most attractive and sensible in terms of investment,” he added.

While Sri Lanka-born Canagarajah, who came to the UK aged 18 to study at the University of Cambridge, believed there was “no substitute for coming to a foreign country to study”, it was also important to acknowledge the growing importance of the branch model, given that some of the biggest senders of overseas students now wanted undergraduates to stay at home for at least part of their degree.

“Every country has its own student strategy, but it’s true that China and India do also want their students to stay in the country,” he said.

Agreements such as Leicester’s deal with Apollo would also provide the “best of both worlds”, allowing master’s students studying a range of jointly created health courses in India, as well as business, computing and engineering degrees at undergraduate level, to complete their studies at Leicester, said Canagarajah.

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“That is a valuable experience because going abroad and engaging with their experts gives you incredible experiences in terms of improving employability,” he said.

Leicester’s Indian research hub, known as the Centre for Digital Health and Precision Medicine, will be paired with a UK-based hub at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital. Collaboration opportunities would extend to Apollo’s owner, Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest private hospital chain, said Canagarajah.

“Leicester is a super-diverse city with a large Indian population and this kind of link-up gives us opportunities to investigate health conditions which affect those in India but also those in Leicester,” he said,

“Combining the world-leading expertise of both institutions means we can find new and novel ways to solve the biggest challenges in health, both in the UK and India.”

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com