University of Pune to set up campus abroad

This June, the University of Pune (UoP) could become India's first state university to have a full-fledged campus on foreign shores.

The 60-year-old university is gearing up to have its offshore campus in Dubai and the first batch will be admitted to 30 courses in June, subject to the necessary permissions from the state and central governments. The initial budget for the campus in Dubai is over Rs 60 crore.

While institutes like the Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management and BITS Pilani have crossed the borders, no state university has done it till date.

The UoP, formerly known as University of Poona, was established on February 10, 1948. It currently has 42 post-graduate departments, 209 affiliated colleges and 118 recognised institutions under its belt. Every year, around 180,000 students take up UoP courses.

The University of Pune has also designed a year-long foundation course for United Arab Emirates (UAE) students, who need to develop certain skills before taking up courses designed by an Indian university.

The foundation course will comprise a beginner's guide to history, mathematics, basics of English and communication skills. This course structure is parallel to the one designed by a number of US-based universities that have set up campuses in the UAE.

UoP's Dubai campus would be similar to the one in Pune. It will offer 30 different courses in various streams like arts, commerce, science, management, defence studies and others. All these courses would be taught locally.

Whenever required, UoP faculty members would be flown to Dubai to conduct these courses. Students passing out of this Dubai-portal will receive a degree certificate issued by UoP.

A top UoP official, who is heading this project, told Business Standard that the UAE government has given a red-carpet treatment to UoP's proposal.

"The quality of education that Indian universities deliver is at par with universities from any other country. The academic intelligence and expertise of UoP has been well acknowledged in the UAE. We are awaiting a clearance from the state and central government for this proposal," the official stated.

The UoP campus has been planned at the sprawling Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) located at the Knowledge Village, where BITS Pilani is located.

The official did not reveal the investment planned for this project but stated that the campus would be of an international standard.