New Delhi, July 24: Rid of the Left, the Centre plans to introduce in Parliament a proposed law allowing foreign higher education providers to set up Indian campuses.

Less than 48 hours after the UPA won the trust vote, education minister Arjun Singh announced plans to bring the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation for Entry and Operation) Bill to Parliament in the upcoming monsoon session. The Left has consistently opposed moves to let in foreign universities.

At present, foreign universities are forbidden from offering degree courses in India by the human resource development ministry that governs education, although the commerce ministry officially allows 100 per cent FDI in the sector. But nearly 150 foreign education providers are offering joint courses with Indian varsities under a twinning arrangement — part of the course in India, the rest abroad — that is allowed by the education department.

Arjun claimed that the Left’s concerns — foreign universities will benefit only rich students while commercialising education — had been taken care of. But senior officials privately said they did not expect the bill to pass through Parliament without opposition from the Left.

“The new law will help us regulate foreign education providers while keeping out fly-by-night operators. We hope to introduce the bill in the coming session of Parliament,” Arjun told reporters after the culmination of a two-day conference with state education ministers.

The entry of foreign education providers into India is a fait accompli in a globalised world, and the law will merely help monitor such institutions, the education department has argued in the draft bill, ministry sources said.

Under the proposed law, foreign education providers will have to apply for deemed-to-be university status from the University Grants Commission (UGC). Once granted the status, the foreign institutions will be treated on a par with Indian deemed universities, the sources said.

Only those foreign universities or institutions that are recognised in their home country will be allowed in, they added. Central regulations to control fees of deemed varsities are likely to be introduced soon, and the same will apply to the foreign institutions.

But the foreign institutions are likely to be allowed to charge fees substantially higher than their Indian counterparts — a factor likely to be opposed by the Left.

A crucial caveat in the proposed law may also allow the UGC to exempt some “world-class” institutions — like Harvard, Cambridge or Oxford — from its regulations on a “case-by-case” basis, the sources said. Indian laws on reservation in admission will apply to the foreign campuses here.