Dr. Partha S Mohapatra (Originally written in March, 2010) The cabinet yesterday gave its nod to the “Foreign Universities Bill”. I first read the report on Wall Street Journal about the Indian Governments’ intention to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities [Delhi Seeks to Admit Foreign Universities, Wall Street Journal June 11, 2009 ]. Subsequently, I read similar reports in other newspapers. Most of the se reports make a compelling story to allow foreign universities to operate in India. The main argument that is made is on following premises: i) It will save India about $4 billion in foreign exchange [“Leading foreign institutes may soon be here” Economic Times , 11 Sep 2006”]. ii) India loses because of brain drain when brilliant people go abroad and study and stay there. iii) We need foreign investments because the government does not ...