Degrees of dissent

In May 2025, the University of Liverpool announced plans to set up a new campus in Bengaluru. It is one of the 15 foreign universities that have expressed interest in opening campuses in India. This development follows the Universities Grants Commission’s 2023 regulatory update, aligned with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP aims to elevate India’s academic ecosystem by inviting top global institutions to set up base in India. 

While this move could foster healthy competition and encourage existing Indian universities to improve their infrastructure and academic standards, it also raises important questions about the quality and autonomy of our own institutions. 

Foreign universities opening campuses in India is indeed a welcome step, especially as it could help reduce enormous foreign remittances. However, one must ask whether these institutions will be allowed to maintain the kind of independence and academic freedom that is increasingly under threat in India’s own universities. These announcements come at a time when crackdowns on academic freedom are becoming disturbingly common on homegrown campuses. 

Ashoka University is a telling example. On its website, the university aspired to become a global leader in liberal education. But the cornerstone of any liberal education is academic freedom—something that has come under strain at Ashoka. The case of Prof Mahmudabad is only the latest; earlier resignations of Dr Sabyasachi Das and Prof Bhanu Pratap Mehta also reflect this erosion. As noted academic and leader Yogendra Yadav wrote in a national daily, when an institution seeks to teach well and encourage critical thinking, it naturally cultivates a spirit of inquiry—which often leads to dissent. 

When these foreign universities open campuses in India, what level of freedom will they actually enjoy? Will the government develop the maturity to tolerate dissent that may arise from these campuses? If foreign universities are allowed more freedom because they are seen as valuable investments, what message does that send to India’s own institutions?

India ranks a dismal 156th out of 179 countries in the V-Dem Institute’s Academic Freedom Index, with neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan scoring higher. Not only have private institutions like Ashoka come under pressure, but even premier public universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University have faced the government’s interference—from denying permission to travel abroad to allowing violent attacks on campuses. Time and again, institutional autonomy and academic freedom in India are tested. 

The challenges are not only external. Internal campus politics, too, can be disruptive. The violent clash at JNU between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Students Federation of India is a case in point.

In the United Kingdom, political parties are not allowed to directly contest student union elections. Individuals may form alliances, but candidates largely run as independents. If India wishes to reform its universities, perhaps a transition toward such a system is worth considering. This does not mean political activities should be banned from campus. Rather, a shift towards fostering alliances and debates without confrontation may help maintain intellectual diversity and civility.

Currently, no Indian university figures in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings. If we want our institutions to match the global standards of those opening campuses in India, academic freedom must be expanded and diversity of thought encouraged. 

It is time for India to legally guarantee academic freedom. In the UK, academic freedom is protected under the 1988 Education Reform Act, which ensures that staff can question received wisdom and advance new —even controversial—ideas. In the United States, the Supreme Court has consistently affirmed academic freedom as a core element of free speech. The recent confrontation between President Donald Trump and Harvard University showed the kind of institutional autonomy and courage American universities enjoy—even in the face of political hostility.

Belgium, one of the highest-ranked countries on the Index of Academic Freedom, recognises academic freedom as part of both freedom of expression and freedom of education. UNESCO, too, has emphasised academic freedom in its 1997 recommendations on the status of higher education teaching personnel. If India wants to bring its institutions up to international standards, it must consider enacting at least a soft law to protect academic freedom and research. 

Institutions like National Law School of India University, and IISc have the potential to rival top global institutions. But to realise that potential, our campuses must become spaces of free inquiry—open to dissent as much as to the defence of government policies.  

(The writer is pursuing legal studies at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru)