'Harvard Hyderabad': The future of US higher education could be in India

Universities that open significant branches in India could become among the very best in the world, argues Tyler Cowen.

With much of U.S. higher education online only this semester, and its more long-term future deeply uncertain, now is a time to dream big. My own fantasy is based on the Indian government’s recent plan to encourage the top 100 universities in the world to operate in India.

Consider how the next 30 years might look if India were to allow the creation of a “Princeton Mumbai,” a “Harvard Hyderabad” or an “Oxford Kolkata.”

At first, most top U.S. universities would be reluctant to proceed boldly. Branch campuses abroad exist, such as the Yale-NUS College in Singapore, but they are usually smaller