Students seeking an alternative to ultra-competitive Indian Institutes of Technology – and expats wanting to return to their home country to study – could be key to the success of Western branch campuses in India, according to the vice-chancellor of the UK university that?has become one of the first to open.
The University of Southampton is on track to recruit an initial cohort of 150 students to start courses in September after officially launching its new Delhi base last month, said Mark E. Smith, who added that the rapid process has “exceeded my wildest expectations”.
While India has long been coveted as a potential destination for overseas branch campuses, a change in regulations in 2023 provided the certainty needed for Southampton to invest, said Smith.
The university, which received approval for the site just a year ago, is set to be followed into India by several other institutions from the UK, US and Australia, with its progress being monitored keenly as a result.
Southampton?is offering six degree programmes initially, including undergraduate courses in computer science, business, economics and accountancy, alongside master’s degrees in finance and international management.
Interest from overseas students, particularly Indian expatriates in the Middle East, has surpassed expectations so far, said Smith.
He outlined three key target markets; students seeking alternatives to the elite Indian Institutes of Technology, those wanting a UK education without the cost or uncertainty of relocating, and Indian expats returning home for their studies.
“There’s a massive Indian population within the Middle East,” he said, “and that’s been ahead of our expectations.”
The India campus is part of a wider transnational education strategy at Southampton,?with the institution aiming to add three more international campuses by the early 2030s, in addition to its Delhi base and long-established presence in Malaysia.
Smith said he wants Southampton to “take what we have to offer to the world, rather than assuming the world will come to us”.
He confirmed that the university has a shortlist of potential locations for further expansion, with decisions guided by market size, regulatory clarity and local government support.
While he declined to name exact sites, he hinted at a return to mainland Europe as a possible next step.
“If you do any digging into my past, you’ll find in my previous role at Lancaster University, our response to Brexit was to open a campus in Germany,” he said.
“So it would be fair to say we’re looking close to home. That doesn’t mean Germany, but it certainly means closer to our backyard.”
He added that Asia remains a?region of interest, with large markets such as China, Vietnam and South Korea on the university’s radar.
In India, Southampton has worked with industry partners on its curriculum design and students will be offered placements at major firms such as Deloitte India and?Comviva.
Beyond teaching, the university is determined to avoid what Smith called the mistake of “retrofitting research and innovation into a system afterwards”.
A head of research and innovation has been appointed at the Delhi campus to ensure research partnerships develop in parallel with teaching.
Although?Smith acknowledged the “first-mover advantage” Southampton enjoys, he is open to collaboration.
“We don’t want to be protectionist about this. There’s plenty of opportunity for other universities to operate without us feeling threatened.”
Transnational education, he said, will become central to Southampton’s future identity, although he tempered expectations about the scale of overseas operations.
“Will these campuses rival our UK home base? Probably not. But they will contribute significantly to our triple helix strategy – education, research and enterprise engagement.”
Smith acknowledged that the timeline the university had set itself for opening the campus had been challenging.
“I still remember when we talked about it originally, and we were waiting for the final sign-off of the legislation back in 2023, people kind of looked at us as if we were crazy.
“But setting that very ambitious timescale, and how the team has responded to that challenge, just makes me very proud.”
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