 bill no 17 of 2015 the foreign educational institutions (regulation of entry and operations) bill, 2015 by shri raju shetti, mp a billto regulate entry and operation of foreign educational institutions imparting or   intending to impart higher education (including technical education and       medical education and award of degree, diploma and equivalent              qualifications by such institutions) and for matters                            connected therewith or                              incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminarydefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,¯5(a)  "accrediting agency", in respect of a course of study offered in india by a foreign educational institution,  means an agency or body approved, recognised or authorised by the council for higher education accreditation or university quality agency or the quality assurance authority, by whatever name called, established or incorporated under a law in the country of origin of the foreign educational institution or any other statutory authority in that country for the purpose of assessing, accrediting or assuring quality and standards of educational institutions;10(b) "advisory board" means the advisory board constituted under sub-section (2) of section 9;(c)  "commission" means the university grants commission established under the university grants commission act, 1956 or any other body or council or commission established under any central act for the time being in force to regulate the entry and operation of foreign educational institution;15(d)  "fee" means all fees including tuition fee and development charges, by whatever name called, payable by the students enrolled for pursuing courses or programmes of study;(e)  "foreign educational institution" means¯20(i) an institution established or incorporated outside india which has beenoffering educational services for at least twenty years in the country in which it had been established or incorporated; and25(ii) which offers educational services in india or proposes to offer coursesleading to award of degree or diploma or certificate or any other award through conventional method including classroom teaching method not including distant mode in india independently or in collaboration, partnership or in a twinning arrangement with any educational institution situated in india;30(f)  "foreign education provider" means a foreign educational institution notified by the central government, as a foreign education provider, on the recommendation of the commission as an institution competent to impart education in india and to award degree, diploma or any other equivalent qualification (other than in the distance mode) at undergraduate, post-graduate, doctoral or post-doctoral level;(g)  "national research professor" means a person, who is an academic of high distinction, declared as such by the central government;35(h)  "notification" means a notification published in the official gazette and the expression "notify" with its cognate meanings and grammatical variations shall be construed accordingly;(i)  "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; (j)  "profession" means the profession of law, medicine and such other profession as may be notified by the central government from time to time;40'(k)  "registrar" means the secretary of the university grants commission or any other officer of the commission notified, by the central government, as registrar for the purposes of this act;(l)  "regulations" means regulations made by the commission; (m)  "statutory authority"¯45(i) in relation to higher education or technical education or practice of any profession means  the university grants commission;(ii) in relation to medical education means the statutory authority established under¯(a) the indian medical council act, 1956; or (b) the homoeopathy central council act, 1973; or5(c) the indian medicine central council act, 1970; or (d) the dentists act, 1948; or (e) the pharmacy act, 1948; or (f) the indian nursing council act, 1947;10(iii) in relation to legal education means the bar council of india constituted under section 4 of the advocates act, 1961; (n)  "technical education" means the technical education as defined in the all india council of technical education act, 1987; and15(o)  "twinning programme" means a programme whereby students enrolled with a foreign education provider complete their study partly in india and partly in any other educational institution situated outside india chapter ii foreign educational institutions20prohibition on admission, collection of fees, etc3 no foreign educational institution shall admit any person as a student, or collect any fee from such person or its students in india for any course of study leading to the award of a degree or a diploma, by whatever name called, unless such institution has been notified by the central government as a foreign education provider under sub-section (8) of section 4254 (1) any foreign educational institution which intents to impart education in india, shall submit an application, for being recognised and notified as a foreign education provider under this act, to the registrar and such application be duly endorsed by the concerned embassy or high commission in india of the country in which such institution is established or incorporated and has been offering educational services in that country:foreign educational institutions to apply for being notified as foreign education providers30provided that a foreign educational institution providing educational services in india before the commencement of this act, shall apply under this sub-section within a period of six months from the date of commencement of this act and it shall cease to provide educational services in accordance with the provisions of this act if its application for recognition and notifying as foreign education provider has been rejected(2) the form and manner in which an application under sub-section (1) shall be made and the other particulars, including payment of fee, shall be such as may be prescribed(3) every application under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by¯35(a) the documents to the effect that such foreign educational institution¯40(i)  has been established or incorporated and has been offering educationalservices for at least twenty years under a law of the country in which such institution is established or incorporated and registered along with the status of its accreditation, wherever applicable, from the accrediting agency of that country; and(ii)  has adequate financial and other resources to conduct the course orcourses of study in india;45(b) an undertaking to maintain a corpus fund of not less than eighty crore rupeesor of such sum as may be notified, from time to time, by the central government inconsultation with the statutory authority(4) the registrar shall, on receipt of an application under sub-section (1), forward a copy thereof to the statutory authority for obtaining its recommendation as to the fitness of such institution to provide quality education in india:5provided that the statutory authority shall make its recommendation to the registrarwithin a period of three months from the date of receipt of the copy of the application under sub-section (4)(5) the registrar shall make such inquiries, in such manner, as may be specified by regulations, to ensure that the foreign educational institution meets the requirements to provide quality education in india, as laid down under any law for the time being in force10(6) the registrar shall, as early as possible, and preferably within a period of sixmonths from the date of receipt of the application under sub-section (1) by a foreigneducational institution, submit his report on the fitness of such institution to provide quality education in india, along with such recommendations as may be made by the statutory authority, to the commission15(7) the commission shall consider the report of the registrar and recommendationsof statutory authority, and recommend to the central government, within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of such report and recommendations, as to the fitness of such institution proposed to be recognised and notified as a foreign education provider in india:20 25provided that if the commission is of the opinion that it shall not be in the interest ofthe sovereignty and integrity of india, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or sensitivity of location of the foreigneducational institution or any other such reason to permit a foreign educational institution to operate in india, either independently or in collaboration or partnership or in twinning arrangement with any educational institution situated in india, it shall submit a report to the central government in this regard, and the decision of the central government thereon shall be final30(8) the central government may, having regard to the report of the commission, within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of such report, recognised and notify such foreign educational institution as a foreign education provider for the purpose of award of degree or diploma or both in india and immediately after such notification, notwithstanding anything contrary or otherwise in the university grants commission act, 1956, the provisions of that act shall apply to such institution as they apply to any university in india:35provided that the central government may reject the application of a foreign educationalinstitution for reasons to be recorded in writing and communicate the same to such institutionwithin a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of report of the commission405 (1) a foreign education provider shall ensure that the course or programme of studyoffered and imparted by it in india is, in conformity with the standards laid down by the statutory authority, and is of quality comparable, as to the curriculum, methods of imparting education and the faculty employed or engaged to impart education, to those offered by it to students enrolled in its main campus in the country in which such institution is established or incorporated45quality of programmes offered in india, use of income from corpus fund, and investment of surplus in generated revenue(2) a foreign education provider shall, out of the income received from the corpusfund, utilise not more than seventy-five per cent of such income for the purposes of development of its institution in india and the remaining of such unutilised income shall be deposited into the corpus fund50(3) no part of the surplus in revenue generated in india by such foreign education provider, after meeting all expenditure in regard to its operations in india, shall be invested for any purpose other than for the growth and development of the educational institutions established by it in india6 (1) every foreign education provider shall publish, before expiry of  ninety days prior to the date of the commencement of admission to any  of its courses or programmes of study, a prospectus containing the following for the purposes of informing those persons intending to seek admission and the general public, namely:—mandatory publication of prospectus, its contents and its pricing5(i) each component of the fee, deposits and other charges payable by studentsadmitted to such institution for pursuing a course or programme of study, and the other terms and conditions of such payment;10(ii) the percentage of tuition fee and other charges refundable to a studentadmitted in such institution in case such student withdraws from such institution before or after completion of course or programme of study and the time within, and the manner in, which such refund shall be made to that student;(iii) the number of seats approved by the statutory authority in respect of eachcourse or programme of study for the academic year for which admission is proposed to be made;15(iv) the conditions of eligibility including the minimum and maximum age limit,if any, of persons for admission as a student in a particular course or programme of study, where so specified by the institution;20(v) the educational qualifications specified by the relevant statutory authority,or by the institution, where no such qualifying standards have been specified by any statutory authority;(vi) the process of admission and selection of eligible candidates applying forsuch admission, including all relevant information in regard to the details of  test or examination, if any, for selecting such candidates for admission to each course or programme of study and the amount of fee to be paid for the admission test;25(vii) details of the teaching faculty, including therein  the educationalqualifications and teaching experience of every member of its teaching faculty and also indicating therein whether such members are on regular basis or as visiting member;(viii) the minimum pay and other emoluments payable for each category ofteachers and other employees;30(ix) information in regard to physical and academic infrastructure and otherfacilities including hostel accommodation, library and hospital or industry wherein thepractical training  to be imparted to the students and in particular the facilities accessible by students on being admitted to the institution;35(x) broad outlines of the syllabus specified by the statutory authority or by theinstitution, as the case may be, for every course or programme of study, including the teaching hours, practical sessions and other assignments;40(xi) all relevant instructions in regard to maintaining the discipline by studentswithin or outside the campus of the institution, and, in particular such discipline relating to the prohibition of ragging of any student or students and the consequences thereof and for violating the provisions of any regulation in this behalf made under the university grants commission act, 1956 or any other law for the time being in force;(xii) any such other information which may be prescribed:45provided that the foreign education provider shall publish information referredto in items (i) to (xii) of this sub-section, on its website, and the attention of prospective students and the general public shall be drawn to such publication on the website through advertisements displayed prominently in the different newspapers and through other media:provided further that the foreign education provider may publish prospectus in accordance with this section at any time before the period of ninety days specified under this sub-section5(2) every foreign education provider shall fix the price of each printed copy of the prospectus, being not more than the reasonable cost of its publication and distribution and no profit be made out of the publication, distribution or sale of prospectus10withdrawal and rescission of notification of foreign education provider7 (1) if the commission is satisfied that the foreign education provider has violated any provision of this act or the university grants commission act, 1956 or any other law for the time being in force or rules, regulations or orders made or notifications issued thereunder, it may, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the foreign education provider, recommend to the central government for withdrawal or recognition and rescission of the notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of such foreign education provider15(2)  where the central government is satisfied that the recognition of the foreign education provider, referred to in sub-section (1), is to be withdrawn and notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of such foreign education provider to be rescinded, it shall require the commission to intimate¯(i)  the management of the foreign education provider;(ii)  the teachers employed by the foreign education provider; and20(iii)  the student council or any other body by whatever name called, and theparents of the students enrolled by the foreign education provider,by a notice, in such manner as may be prescribed, of the grounds for withdrawal of recognition and rescission of the notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of such foreign education provider25(3) the management or teachers or students council or parents of students of such foreign education provider may, within a period of thirty days from date of receipt of notice under sub-section (2), represent to the central government against the proposed rescission of the notification in respect of such foreign education provider30(4) if the central government, after considering the representations, if any, received under sub-section (3), is satisfied, it may withdraw the recognition and rescind the notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of the foreign education provider referred to in sub-section (1)35(5) on withdrawal of the recognition and rescission of the notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of the foreign education provider, the foreign educational institution shall cease to be a foreign education provider on and from the last date of the academic session following the previous academic session in which the notice under sub-section (2) was issued by the commission40(6) on withdrawal of recognition and rescission of the notification issued under sub-section (8) of section 4 in respect of the foreign education provider, the central government shall, as soon as may be, take such measures as may be necessary to provide alternative and appropriate educational facilities for those students who were enrolled by such foreign education provider45(7) the central government may, in accordance with the relevant law for the time being in force, attach the corpus fund and such other properties of the foreign education provider referred to in sub-section (4), as it may deem fit to make payments to any person employed in india by such foreign education provider, and for making arrangements of appropriate educational facilities for students referred to in sub-section (6) chapter iii penaltiespenalties58 (1)  notwithstanding anything contained in the university grants commission act, 1956, any person who, being associated with an educational institution or a foreign educational institution not being a foreign education provider which has not been recognised and notified under sub-section (8) of section 4 or whose recognition and notification has been withdrawn¯10(a) offers or gives admission to any person as student or collects fee or awardsany degree, diploma or any other equivalent qualification in violation of the provisions of section 3; or(b) publishes or releases any advertisement which is misleading or gives wrongfulinformation in the print, electronic or any other  media  or  fails  to  publish disclosures as required  under section 13,15shall be liable to a penalty which shall not be less than fifteen lakh rupees but which may extend to eighty lakh rupees in addition to refund of the fee, so collected, to the persons from whom it was collected and confiscation of any gains made out of it20(2) any foreign education provider, which has been recognised and notified under sub-section (8) of section 4, who contravenes any provision of section 5 or section 6 or any provision of the university grants commission act, 1956, shall be liable to a penalty which shall not be less than fifteen lakh rupees but which may extend to eighty lakh rupees and the forfeiture of the corpus fund referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (4) of section 4 in whole or part thereof(3) all sums realised by way of penalties or the gains confiscated under this chapter or the amount of corpus fund forfieted shall be credited to the consolidated fund of india chapter iv25 miscellaneouspower of central government to exempt309 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in this act, the central government may, by notification, on the recommendation of the advisory board constituted under sub-section (2), having regard to the reputation and international standing of foreign educational institution and such other criteria as may be prescribed, exempt such institution from operation of any of the foregoing provisions, other than sub-section (3) of section 5 and section 8(2) for the purpose of sub-section (1), the central government shall, by notification, constitute an advisory board consisting of—35(a) three distinguished persons from the field of academics, who are, or mayhave been at any time, declared as a national research professor, one of whom shall be designated as the chairperson of the advisory board;(b) chairman of the commission,   ex-officio ;(c) chairman of one of the statutory authorities, other than the commission, byrotation40(3) the advisory board shall meet at such times and places, and observe such rules ofprocedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings (including quorum at such meeting) as may be prescribed4510 (1)  without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this act, the commission, shall, in exercise of its powers or performance of its functions under this act, be bound by such directions on question of policy as the central government may give in writing to it, from time to time:power of central government to issue directionsprovided that the commission shall, as far as practicable, be given an opportunity to express its views before any direction is given under this sub-section(2) the decision of the central government whether a question is one of policy or not shall be final11 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of any other law for the time being in forceapplication of other laws not barred512 (1) notwithstanding anything contained in this act, a foreign educational institution(not being a foreign education provider notified under section 4), which is imparting education leading to award of certificate or any other qualification not being a degree or diploma or equivalent qualifications, shall furnish a report to the commission about its activities, in such manner as may be specified by regulations10foreign educational institution conducting certificate courses to report its activities to commission(2) the foreign educational institution referred to in sub-section (1), shall publishinformation on its website and draw the attention of prospective students and the general public to such publication on the website through advertisements displayed prominently in the different newspapers and through other media, indicating, inter alia, the following, namely:¯15(a) the details of course or programme of study leading to the award of certificate; (b) the details of enrolment of students; (c) the details of infrastructure available with it; (d) details of the place wherefrom such institution is operating in india;20(e) whether operating on its own or through collaboration or partnership ortwinning arrangement with any indian educational institution and the details thereof;(f) such other information as may be considered necessary by the commissionpower to make rules13 (1) the central government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out theprovisions of this act25(2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, suchrules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:¯(a) the form and manner in which an application may be made and other particularsincluding payment of fee under sub-section (2) of section 4;(b) the other information required to be published in the prospectus by a foreigneducation provider under clause (xii) of sub-section (1) of section 6;30(c) the manner in which notice shall be given under sub-section (2) of section 7;(d) the criteria for granting exemption to foreign educational institution undersub-section (1) of section 9;35(e) the time and place at which the advisory board shall meet and rules ofprocedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings (including quorum at such meeting) to be observed by it under sub-section (3) of section 9;(f) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed or in respect ofwhich provision is to be made by rules by the central government14 (1) the commission may, by notification, make regulations, consistent with this act and the rules made thereunder to carry out the provisions of this actpower to make regulations40(2)  in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:¯(a) the inquiries and the manner of making such inquiries by the registrar undersub-section (5) of section 4;(b) the manner in which a foreign educational institution shall report of itsactivities under sub-section (1) of section 13;45(c) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, specified by regulationsor in respect of which provision is to be made by regulations5laying of rules, regulations and notifications1015 every rule and every regulation made and every notification issued under  this actshall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made or issued, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or regulation or notification, or both houses agree that the rule or regulation or notification should not be made or issued,  the rule or regulation or notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or regulation or notificationpower toremove difficulties1516 (1)  if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as may appear to be necessary, for removing the difficulty:provided that no order shall be made under this section after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of commencement of this act20(2) every order made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament statement of objects and reasonsa number of foreign educational institutions have been operating in the country and some of them may be resorting to various  malpractices to allure and attract  students there is no comprehensive and effective policy for regulation on the operations of all the foreign educational institutions in the country due to lack of  policy or regulatory regime it has been very difficult to make meaningful assessment of the operations of the foreign educational institutions and absence of such meaningful assessment has given rise to chances of adoption of various unfair practices besides commercialisation2 at present,  only the all india council for  technical education has notified regulations for entry  and operation of foreign universities  and institutions imparting  technical education in india which apply only to  such institutions which are providing technical education covered by the all india council for technical education act, 19873 the enactment of a legislation regulating entry and operation of all the foreign educational  institutions is necessary to maintain the  standards of higher education within the country as well to protect the interest of the students and in public interest the object of the  proposed legislation is to regulate entry and  operation of foreign  educational institutions imparting or intending to impart higher education or technical education or practice of any profession in india (including award of  degree, diploma and equivalent qualifications  by such institutions) and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto4 the present bill, inter alia, provides— (a) that the foreign educational institution shall,—(i) not impart education  in india unless it is recognised and notified  by  the central government  as a foreign education  provider under the proposed legislation;(ii) offer and impart education which  is in conformity with the standards  laid down by the statutory authority, and is of quality comparable, as to the  curriculum, methods of imparting education  and the faculty employed or engaged to impart education, to those offered by it to students enrolled in its  main campus  in the country in which such institution is established or incorporated; and(iii) maintenance of the corpus fund of not less than eighty crore rupees or such sum as  may be notified from time to time by the central government; (b) that the central government  may,—(i) refuse to recognise and notify a foreign educational institution as foreign education provider if it is not  in the interest of sovereignty, integrity of india,  the security  of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public  order, decency or morality or sensitivity of location of the foreign educational institutions; and(ii) withdraw the recognition  and  rescind the notification  of a  foreign education provider on the grounds of violation of the provisions of the proposed legislation or the university grants  commission act, 1956 or any other law for the time being in force and on such withdrawal or recession of  notification, the central government shall make necessary alternative arrangements; (c) that any person who, being associated with  an educational  institution or a foreign educational instititution not being a foreign education provider which has not been recognised and notified under the proposed legislation, offer or gives admission to any person as student or collects fee  or awards any degree, diploma  or publishes or releases any advertisement which is misleading or gives wrongful information or fails to publish disclosures as required under the proposed  legislation shall be liable to a penalty of not less than fifteen lakh rupees which may extend to eighty lakh rupees in addition to refund of the fee and confiscation of any gains made out of it; and(d) that any foreign education provider, which has been recognised and notified under the proposed legislation, who contravenes the provisions of clause  5 of the proposed legislation relating to quality of programmes offered in india,  use of income from corpus fund, and investment  of surplus in generated revenue  or the provisions of the university grants  commission act, 1956 shall be  liable  to a penalty of not less than fifteen lakh rupees which may extend to eighty lakh rupees and the forfeiture of the corpus fund in whole or part thereof;5 the bill seeks  to achieve the above objectivesnew delhi;raju shettinovember 12, 2014 ———— president's recommendation under articles 117(1) and 117(3) of the constitution[copy of letter no 9-7/2014-u policy dated 27 january, 2015 from shrimati smriti zubin irani, minister of human resource development to the secretary-general, lok sabha]the president, having been informed of the subject matter of the foreign educational institutions (regulation of entry and operations) bill, 2015 by shri raju shetti, member of parliament, recommends the introduction of the bill under article 117(1) and consideration under article 117(3) of the constitution, in lok sabha financial memorandumsub-clause (2) of clause 9 of the bill provides that the central government shall constitute an advisory body to make recommendations to exempt a foreign educational institution from the operation of certain provisions of the legislation to the central governmentthe central government shall incur expenditure on payment of allowances to the distinguished persons nominated on the advisory board under item (a) of sub-clause (2) of clause 9 and also incur such other incidental expenses on the conduct of the meetings of the advisory board as may be requiredthe expenditure to be incurred would depend on the frequency of the meetings of the advisory board which is dependent on a number of factors it is not possible, at this stage, to estimate the expenditure on the conduct of the meetings of the advisory board memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 13 of the bill empowers the central government to make, by notification in the official gazette, rules for carrying out the provisions of the proposed legislation sub-clause (2) specifies the matters in respect of which such rules may be made these matters, inter alia, include matters: (a) the form and manner in which an application may be made and other particulars including payment of fee under sub-clause (2) of clause 4; (b) the other information required to be published in the prospectus by a foreign education provider under clause (xii) of sub-clause (1) of clause 6; (c) the manner in which notice shall be given under sub- clause (2) of clause 7; (d) the criteria for granting exemption to foreign educational institution under sub- clause (1) of clause 9; (e) the time and place at which the advisory board shall meet and rules of procedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings (including quorum at such meeting) to be observed by it under sub-clause (3) of clause 9; and (f) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed or in respect of which provision is to be made by rules by the central government2 clause 14 of the bill empowers the commission (university grants commission) to make, by notification in the official gazette, regulations for carrying out the provisions of the proposed legislation sub-clause (2) specifies the matters in respect of which such regulations may be made these matters, inter alia, include: (a) the inquiries and the manner of making such inquiries by the registrar under sub-clause (5) of clause 4; (b) the manner in which a foreign educational institution shall report of its activities under sub-clause (1) of clause 12; and (c) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, specified by regulations or in respect of which provision is to be made by regulations3 the rules made by the central government under clause 13 and regulations made by the commission under clause 14 of the bill, shall be laid, as soon as they are made, before both houses of parliament under clause 15 of the bill4 the matters in respect of which rules and regulations may be made are matters of procedure and administrative detail and it is not practicable to provide for them in the bill itself the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character———— a billto regulate entry and operation of foreign educational institutions imparting or intending to impart higher education (including technical education and medical education and award of degree, diploma and equivalent qualifications by such institutions) and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(shri raju shetti, mp)gmgipmrnd—2867ls(s3)—19022015