Kapil Sibal

New Delhi, Oct. 23: Kapil Sibal will shuttle up and down the US east coast over the coming week in an unparalleled lobbying exercise to lure top American universities to India.

The human resource development minister is meeting government officials, industry representatives and the heads of at least seven top universities that he hopes to attract in a first-of-its kind effort by an Indian education minister.

Sibal’s focus will be on convincing top east coast universities to choose India as a destination — to set up campuses and to enhance collaboration with universities here — The Telegraph has learnt.

The visit is significant because India is in the process of legislating to allow — and regulate — the entry of foreign universities.

Sibal has repeatedly assured the nation that the proposed legislation will prevent fly-by-night foreign institutions from entering India, while facilitating the entry of the world’s best higher educational institutions.

The latest draft of the Foreign Education Providers Bill exempts these institutions from deemed university status and allows them to set their fees according to the market.

But foreign universities retain concerns on two substantive issues, HRD ministry sources said.

They want sanction to repatriate any profits to their home country — at present not allowed under the draft law.

There are also concerns over a lack of clarity on the ownership of intellectual property (IP) generated on Indian campuses of foreign universities, the sources said.

Sibal is likely to meet US education secretary Arne Duncan — President Barack Obama’s basketball partner — during the trip starting tonight, sources said.

The HRD minister is also slated to meet top representatives and heads of seven top universities, including three Ivy League institutions, sources said.

Sibal will visit Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge, Massachusetts, Yale in Connecticut and Georgetown in Washington DC, sources said.

The minister is scheduled to also travel to North Carolina where he is expected to visit Duke University and the University of North Carolina — the state’s public funded university.

In New York, the minister is also scheduled to meet representatives of the University of Pennsylvania, sources said.