New Delhi: In a significant development, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the vice-chancellors of all universities to seek prior approval of both the Home Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs before entering into agreement with Chinese institutes for any educational related programmes.
Further, it has directed the Indian universities to keep in abeyance all activities under MoUs already signed with Chinese side till the clearances are obtained.
The communication from UGC secretary Rajnish Jain comes ahead of Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s visit to India for the Sino-India summit meeting.
“The Ministry of Human Resource Development has conveyed that in addition to other clearances, prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs must be taken by all the academic institutions before signing of MoU, educational exchange programme, agreement, joint declaration of intent, letter of intent etc with the Chinese institutions and universities,” the UGC communication said.
The development is feared to raise a big question mark about the fate of both Indian and Chinese students who have enrolled in various programmes started under MoUs between the two countries.
According to a report, since 2016 when India and China entered into educational exchange programme, 18000 Indian students had taken up higher studies in China.
The recently released All India survey on higher education report said that about 105 Chinese students are enrolled in Indian institutes for higher studies.
It, however, remains unclear the circumstances that led UGC to issue the new guidelines on the signing of MoUs between India and China.