University says its India partner has pulled out
Middlesex University has announced that it is abandoning plans to launch its third overseas campus in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi.
In a statement emailed to Research Fortnight Today, a spokeswoman said: “We were very disappointed to learn that our partners JSS do not wish to proceed with the Noida centre at this time. As JSS constructed and own the buildings, our partnership was an essential part of the project. Our commitment to providing high quality education in India remains strong.”
JSS, a large India-based educational conglomerate, runs its own technical college in Noida called JSS Academy of Technical Education.
Middlesex’s abandoned scheme in Noida, an industrial hub located just outside Delhi, was due to launch this October. However, all promotional material for the campus, including courses and fee information, was removed from the Middlesex website over the past few days.
The Delhi campus planned to offer courses in business and management, advertising, PR, journalism and IT, with fees set at £3,500 per year for full-time study.
India is the mainstay of Middlesex’s international strategy. More than 4,000 of Middlesex’s London-based international students are from outside the EU. Of those around 40 per cent come from India.
In July, Terry Butland, deputy vice-chancellor with responsibility for international business at Middlesex, speaking to delegates at a Westminster Education Forum event, reported a 50 per cent drop in recruitment from India to its London courses. He attributed this in part to uncertainty over new Home Office visa regulations for international students. Butland estimated that Middlesex faced a resulting loss of £5 million for 2011/12.
Middlesex is widely regarded as a pioneering institution in the internationalization of higher education. It has two existing overseas campuses in Mauritius and Dubai, teaching more than 1,000 students. In addition, the university validates more than 100 qualifications at 25 institutions outside of the UK.
However, this strategy has been criticised by local politicians for reducing the numbers of university places for young Londoners, especially those from relatively deprived parts of the city. The university did have several campuses across north London, including Tottenham and Enfield. But it sold off these sites leaving it with one flagship campus in Hendon and another in the grounds of a former stately home, Trent Park. In 2004, it abandoned plans for a new development in Tottenham Hale.
At the time the local Labour MP David Lammy complained to The Guardian: “I’m extremely upset that Middlesex University is planning to pull out of Tottenham entirely. after it has had throughout its history a massive commitment to my constituency. The people of Tottenham feel let down. Middlesex was a past pioneer of widening participation—now it’s planning to close down operations in the second poorest borough in London.”
This year Middlesex received a second Queen’s Award for enterprise in recognition of its contribution to international trade.