India’s moment to lead learning in Global South

As global geopolitics reshapes the flows of talent, knowledge, and influence, India stands at a pivotal moment. The higher education landscape is shifting. For decades, the academic aspirations of students from Asia, Africa, and Latin America were shaped by a Western gaze. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and parts of Europe have dominated international student mobility. But cracks have begun to appear in this model. The soaring cost of education, tightening visa regimes, cultural frictions, and rising xenophobia in some Western countries are prompting students and faculty alike to reconsider their choices. In contrast, India offers a unique promise – a democratic, English-speaking, culturally diverse country with lower costs and improving academic infrastructure. According to the QS World University Rankings 2026, 54 Indian institutions are listed, with several IITs and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) leading the pack. Notably, India is now home to ten institutions among the global top 500 – a figure that stood at just 5 a decade ago.

India’s higher education system presents affordable excellence from a comparative perspective. The value proposition is striking when viewed through the lens of affordability. According to the OECD, the average annual cost of tuition for an undergraduate degree in the US for international students is around $30,000 (excluding living expenses). In the UK, it ranges from £15,000 to £25,000. In contrast, tuition at India’s premier institutes, such as IITs or central universities, ranges from Rs 2 to 3 lakh per annum – roughly $2,000 to $3,500. Living costs also favour India. A student in Bengaluru or Delhi can expect to spend $4,000-$5,000 annually on accommodation, food, transport, and incidentals – a fraction of the $15,000-$20,000 annual living cost in major Western cities. For a student from Nairobi, Dhaka, Jakarta, or Lagos, this difference is not marginal – it is transformative.

Several Indian institutions are part of global research partnerships, host Nobel Laureates and Rhodes Scholars among alumni, and contribute significantly to global knowledge production in STEM, management, social sciences, and increasingly, AI and digital public infrastructure. A quiet research revolution is underway. India has begun to make tangible strides in research output and impact. Between 2012 and 2022,
its share of global research publications nearly doubled, from 3.1% to 5.7%,
according to Scopus. In key sectors such as renewable energy, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, and materials science, Indian institutions are now among the top ten producers of peer-reviewed papers.

The citation impact – long seen as a weak spot – is also improving. While the Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) for India was 0.77 in 2012 (compared to the world average of 1), it rose to 0.95 by 2022, approaching parity with the global average. Institutes such as IISc, TIFR, and some IITs already exceed the global FWCI average in multiple disciplines.

This progress has been matched by the recent policy and regulatory reforms. India’s New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 explicitly envisions the country becoming a global study destination. It calls for internationalisation of curricula, credit transfer frameworks, dual and joint degree programmes, and the opening of Indian campuses abroad. In turn, global universities are now permitted to establish branch campuses in India and several of them are doing so. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has also rolled out a unified Academic Bank of Credits, the National Digital University, and revised norms for foreign faculty recruitment and student intake. For example, institutions in the top 500 global rankings are now eligible to establish campuses in India with regulatory fast-tracking.

A context of culture

India and the Global South have a shared ethos. India’s unique strength lies in its socio-cultural affinity with much of the Global South. Unlike many Western nations, India does not operate from a position of dominance or conditionality. Its development experience – of building institutions, extending literacy, expanding digital inclusion, and delivering public health in complex, diverse settings – is of direct relevance to the challenges faced by countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Moreover, India’s recent successes in digital public goods offer valuable learning for low- and middle-income countries. Many of these innovations are being adopted across the Global South, and Indian universities are well-positioned to teach, research, and train talent in these domains.

Some of the private universities have already created globally benchmarked standards of quality. We must therefore reflect on the road ahead and on what India must do to transform potential into reality. India must act decisively on several fronts: Streamline visa policies for students and visiting faculty from abroad, including longer post-study work permits; Strengthen global branding and outreach through regional hubs, alumni networks, and digital platforms in Africa and Southeast Asia; Improve campus infrastructure, student support services, and international student housing to enhance the quality of experience; Invest in faculty development and interdisciplinary research centres, with greater funding for humanities, law, and public policy; Forge South-South academic partnerships, offering co-branded programmes with universities in Africa, ASEAN, and Latin America.

India should also consider instituting a Global South Research Fellowship Programme that enables leading scholars from emerging economies to collaborate on teaching and research in Indian universities – building intellectual solidarity across borders. The question is no longer whether India can attract international students and faculty – it is whether we will create enabling conditions to do so at scale, with care, and with vision. If we get this right, India could very well become the University of the Global South – where ambition meets access, and learning meets relevance.

(The writer is Director, School of Social Sciences and School of Law,
Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences)