Karnataka pushes for UK universities to open campuses in the state

Students from the state will soon get opportunities to access higher education in UK-based universities while staying put in Karnataka, as the state government is encouraging more foreign universities to establish their campuses in Karnataka, specially from the UK.

Liverpool University has already announced the setting up of its campus at KWIN City and also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this purpose.

Encouraging ‘internationalisation of higher education,’ during their recent visit to UK, Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar and Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil proposed for more reputed universities based out of London to open their campuses in Karnataka. 

As studying in the UK is considered expensive and financially not viable for all, the government has pitched several initiatives with UK-based universities for student exchange, twinning programmes and also to have campuses here.

Explaining this M C Sudhakar said, “We are pushing for more foreign universities to come, specially from UK to have their campuses in Karnataka, mainly to exempt our students from travelling all the way to UK. This will save them lots of money as the cost of living is less in Karnataka compared to cities in UK.”

“When we provide the same degree from the same university, but in Karnataka, why will our students fly out?,” the minister said. 

Sudhakar said the foreign universities would get some benefits from Karnataka by setting up campuses here.

Fees for students from the state would be a bit less than what they normally charge for the same education in their home country.

“People may wonder why we have chosen UK. It is just because nothing was materialising with universities from other countries. Delegations from various countries including Australia, US and New Zealand, met us, but they did not taken anything forward. But the British Council showed lots of interest in collaborating with us. We have already launched the SCOUTS programme with them and requested them to increase numbers for Karnataka under Chevening Scholarship programme. Every discussion with UK universities is reaching a logical end. Two entities from UK have already established their presence in Bengaluru. Our focus is on more collaboration to help our students get degrees from them in our state,” Sudhakar said.

“During the visit, we get to know about the opportunities available for our students. There are more job opportunities for nurses and even dentists. This will help us send our trained nurses and dentists to UK,” he said.

Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil proposed that exams for membership to the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) be conducted in Karnataka. The minister has submitted the proposal for the same as medical graduates have to travel all the way to UK now for this exam. 

It is the exam to enter specialist training for doctors in UK and it is a globally accepted exam.

“If MRCP exam is held in Karnataka, our medical graduates have no need to travel all the way to UK just to take this exam. Though many of them are interested in taking this exam, they are not opting for it, considering financial constraints of travel and stay there,” said Patil.

PhD students of Bangalore University (BU) might get an opportunity to visit universities in the UK for a few months under a research students’ exchange programme.

Vice Chancellor of BU Dr Jayakara S M had proposed this during the recent visit of a delegation of experts from Karnataka to UK universities.

Jayakara said there will be no financial burden on students. “Our plan is to get sponsorship from the social welfare department for students who get selected for the student exchange programmes,” he said.

“During our visit, we engaged in insightful and meaningful discussions with renowned universities including Cambridge University, Bangor University and Wolverhampton University. The focus of our interactions was to explore avenues for collaboration and knowledge exchange that would benefit both regions,” said Dr Bhagawan B C, Vice Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.