India + China Announce Renewed Approaches to Foreign Collaboration + Education
Smart Summary
India’s
UGC will now allow dual-degree programs with foreign universities, whereas only
joint degrees and twinning arrangements were permitted previously.
The
new India regulations are NOT applicable to online programs.
China has re-asserted that it will not accredit foreign universities degrees obtained through online programs for reasons unrelated to COVID-19.
U.S.
university administrators + leaders should re-evaluate their India + China
market strategy in light of new developments.
India Set to Allow Dual-Degree Programs
with Foreign Universities
According to news reports and preliminary guidelines emanating
from India’s educational statutory authority, the Ministry of Education, the
University Grants Commission (UGC) is easing rules for academic collaboration
between Indian universities and foreign institutions. UGC has now approved key
amendments, including a provision for dual-degree programs, in which both the
Indian and foreign institutions could confer separate and simultaneous degrees
for a course of the same discipline and at the same level. The amendments also
curb the regulator’s supervisory role in facilitating such collaborations,
meaning that Indian universities that meet a minimum academic standard will not
require UGC’s permission to offer such programs.
UGC previously had in place existing regulations for twinning arrangements
and collaborations between higher education institutions (HEI) and foreign
education institutions (FEI), which meant that the final degree resulting from
such foreign collaboration would be of the HEI in India only, and UGC would not
recognize a dual degree.
Now, these proposed regulations provide for true dual-degree
programs conferred by both the HEI and FEI, separately and simultaneously, upon
completion of the degree requirements of both institutions.
Under the new regulations, collaborating institutions will now be permitted
to offer three kinds of programs: twinning, joint degrees, and dual degrees (whereas
only twinning and joint degrees were allowed under the old regulations).
Once fully implemented, these regulations will
make strategic collaborations, dual degrees and pathway programs much simpler
to implement, and will pave the way for HEIs to collaborate with FEIs with much
greater flexibility given UGC’s reduced supervisory role.
Importantly, administrators and institutional
leadership must be aware that the new regulations are not
applicable to programs offered online or through other modes of “distance
learning.”
Specific details and rules pertaining to the amendments will be outlined
by UGC in the next few weeks.
U.S. universities looking for innovative collaboration models with
Indian universities should be encouraged by the new regulations and explore
their India market strategy in this new regulatory context.
China Tightens Accreditation of Overseas
Diplomas and Degrees
[Note:
Some insights on these developments in China are offered with assistance
from attorneys at MHP Law Firm in China.]
In China, governmental education authorities provide accreditation
of diplomas or degrees issued by overseas universities or colleges on the basis
of each student’s application. The Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (“CSCSE”), an agency operating under
the country’s Ministry of Education, is the only official organization permitted
to provide credential evaluation and accreditation services on overseas
diplomas or degrees in China.
Foreign students who either study abroad in China or under an
approved Sino-foreign cooperation program apply to CSCSE for accreditation and
CSCSE will then take into account the “overseas residence time for study”
during the accreditation and evaluation of overseas diplomas or degrees.
Early
COVID Effect on Accreditation
In April 2020 and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSCSE issued
a statement clarifying that online courses taken because of a student’s
inability to attend campus as a result of related travel or immigration restrictions
will not negatively influence the accreditation of those classes and programs.
Then, in March 2021, CSCSE issued a new statement that: (i) it
will continue to accredit overseas coursework, diplomas, and degrees that
Chinese students have obtained online during the pandemic; but (ii) it will
not
accredit any diploma or degree stemming from online coursework if it deems that
such coursework was falsely presented as necessary in light of the pandemic,
but was, in reality, offered only to maximize profits for the institution.
Through the course of the pandemic, CSCSE has observed that
certain overseas universities have offered COVID-19 concerns as a false premise
under which they provide various online courses and recruit Chinese students.
This, according to CSSCE, amounts to those universities’ selling diplomas and
degrees, which they assert damages Chinese students’ interests.
Current
Statement on Accreditation of Online Coursework + Degrees
In light of this concern, CSCSE issued a supplementary statement
on March 25, 2022, reiterating the importance of “overseas residence time for
study” for accreditation, and confirmed that diplomas and degrees issued through
suspect cross-border distance courses will not receive accreditation by CSCSE.
U.S.
universities marketing online education programs to Chinese students for any
reason other than a legitimate COVID-19-related delivery impediment should
evaluate the impact of non-accreditation on their programs and its effect on their
current and prospective students.
Licensed to practice law in India and the U.S., Vinita Mehra is a
director and chair of Kegler Brown’s Global Education practice where she works
closely with in-house counsel and other college and university leaders in
devising, evaluating and implementing education strategies that build revenue
and expand institutional brands globally. She can be reached at
vmehra@keglerbrown.com or
(614) 255-5508.
