Course purpose

India's higher education sector finds itself at a pivotal moment in its history. The internationalisation of higher education is emerging as a defining force in shaping its human capital for national and global leadership. The National Education Policy 2020 set out an ambitious vision for internationalisation, and recent legislative and regulatory developments have made that vision a concrete opportunity (notably, the University Grants Commission's (UGC) framework enabling foreign universities to establish branch campuses in India.

For the first time, Indian universities are operating in a truly international landscape, where partnerships, transnational partnerships and programmes, and the presence of global universities on Indian soil are no longer ambitions, but operational realities. Against this backdrop, the ability of higher education professionals (academic and administrative) to understand, navigate, and contribute to this new reality has moved from a specialism to a core institutional competency.

Yet the pace of policy change has outrun the availability of structured professional development in TNE and internationalisation.

Across India's diverse and rapidly expanding higher education system, there is an urgent need to build a shared professional language and a common framework of understanding - one that equips staff at every level to engage confidently with internationalisation as both a strategic priority and a day-to-day practice.

Not only this, but India has the opportunity to be seen as an international leader in this space, by developing not just a shared institutional capacity and understanding, but by being the first country globally that has a common approach, shared understanding, and widespread level of expertise and competence in the international education space. 

This course has been designed to meet these needs and develop the nationwide capacity. By bringing together professionals from institutions across the country, it aims to build nationwide capability, foster a community of informed practitioners, and ensure that Indian higher education has the skilled workforce necessary to fulfil the government's internationalisation agenda and position India as a leading global destination for world-class education.