With approximately 367 million young people aged 15 to 29, India has the largest youth population in the world. It also kicks off the country’s growing education sector, which serves approximately 40 million students. While many students head to foreign universities, others face an admissions and interview system where even fewer are able to qualify. Aritra Ghoshal of OneStep Global, which helps foreign universities enter the Indian market, said, “11 million students have completed Grade 12 [final school year in India] Approximately 1.5-1.7 million people belong to the top academic class every year. India’s top colleges admit only about 200,000 students every year. “The rest are targeted by nine British universities that have announced campuses in India during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the country in 2025. These include the Universities of York, Aberdeen, Bristol, Liverpool, Queen’s University Belfast and Coventry University. The University of Southampton already has a campus in Delhi and York University in Mumbai, focusing on business, management and engineering courses. According to British government figures, India has 40 million university students and will need at least 70 million places in the decade to 2035. This provides UK universities with an incremental market opportunity of 25-30 million seats. “From an affordability perspective, an estimated four to five million students could realistically consider degree courses priced in excess of £10,000 a year,” Gossard said.This includes the aspirational middle and upper classes rather than the larger mass market, but it provides a large enough gap for UK universities. In 2020, India’s National Education Policy announced that it would allow foreign universities to set up in the country, and announced relevant rules in 2023, creating legal ways for these institutions to set up branch campuses in India. Lindsay Oades, provost of York University, said the university’s campus will be located in Powai, Mumbai, and tuition fees at the university will be about 50% lower than studying at a British university campus. He said that while fees were still more expensive than private universities, there was a “quality justification” for the fees, adding that universities like York followed global standards and focused on the need for employability skills and industry partnerships. But will all this be enough to motivate Indian students to abandon studying abroad and opt for courses at these universities? For years, generations of Indians have saved money and taken out loans to study at foreign universities and expand their employment opportunities. Ankita Kejriwal, whose son Vivaan hopes to study finance and economics in the United States next year, told the BBC that most of his friends and cousins choose to go abroad primarily for exposure to international work. While British degrees issued in India may not be able to replace these students, stricter immigration policies, such as those in the United States, would certainly suppress their desire to migrate and incentivize them to enroll in institutions at home. “This can be a valid option for those looking for brand value with lower financial and visa risk,” Gosar said. However, enrollment in the first few years is expected to be only a few hundred. As admissions decisions in India become increasingly results-driven, growth typically occurs over a five-to-seven-year period once alumni outcomes become visible and employer acceptance of these students stabilizes, Ghosal said.Additionally, these campuses are expected to maintain British academic standards while operating at Indian price points, making execution of projects and infrastructure even more daunting. However, given that Indian students will spend $5.3 billion studying at UK overseas campuses in 2024, these universities are expected to reap billions in returns if successful.
