India has invited Singaporean universities to establish campuses in the country and sought Singapore’s expertise in developing its proposed university townships, drawing on the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) University Town model, Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Sunday.
The proposals were discussed during Joshi’s bilateral meeting with Singapore’s Education Minister Desmond Lee at Singapore Management University (SMU), following the inauguration of the fourth Singapore-India Hackathon. In a post on X, Joshi said the two sides discussed strengthening cooperation across school education, higher education, skilling, research and innovation.
“I invited more Singaporean universities to establish campuses in India and sought Singapore’s expertise in developing our proposed University Townships, drawing from the NUS University Town model,” Joshi said in his post.
The invitation comes amid India’s efforts to attract foreign universities under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In 2022, the UGC had identified Singapore’s leading institutions, including NUS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU), among around 260 foreign universities shortlisted as potential partners for collaboration and campus expansion in India. Former UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar had said the commission would work with interested Singaporean institutions to facilitate their entry into India. However, none of the Singaporean universities features on the UGC’s current list of foreign higher education institutions with campuses in India.
Under the UGC’s 2023 regulations, foreign universities can establish campuses in India, subject to eligibility and regulatory approvals. As of August 2026, the UGC had issued 16 letters of intent to 15 foreign institutions from Australia, Italy, the UK and the US.
India’s proposed university townships, meanwhile, were announced in the Union Budget 2026-27, which envisaged five such integrated academic zones near major industrial and logistics corridors. These are expected to bring together multiple universities, colleges, research institutions, skill centres and residential facilities. The Ministry of Education has initiated consultations with state governments, academic institutions and industry representatives to develop the framework.
NUS’s University Town is an integrated campus ecosystem that combines residential facilities, teaching infrastructure, study clusters and common spaces to encourage academic and social engagement.
The two ministers also discussed mutual recognition of qualifications, deeper teacher and student exchanges, joint capacity-building programmes and stronger industry-academia linkages.
“We also discussed collaboration in AI in education, advanced materials, clean energy, fintech, semiconductors and other emerging technologies, alongside joint research and support for deep-tech start-ups and innovators through Bharat Innovates,” Joshi said.
Joshi also proposed hosting the fifth India-Singapore Hackathon in India in 2027 and establishing a periodic India-Singapore Higher Education Institutions Conference. The fourth edition of the hackathon, organised by SMU’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the All India Council for Technical Education and the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, is being held in Singapore from November 15 to 17, bringing together around 120 students from the two countries.
