The University Grants Commission (UGC) officially issued Letters of Intent (LoIs) to leading universities from the UK, USA, Australia and Italy to establish campuses in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

Officials handed over the letters at a ceremony in Mumbai, which Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan presided over, along with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, other deputy chief ministers, vice-chancellors of the participating universities, and several dignitaries and stakeholders.

The universities that received the LoIs were the University of York (UK), the University of Western Australia (UWA), the University of Aberdeen (UK), the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA), and IED Istituto Europeo di Design (Italy). The University of Western Australia also planned to establish a second campus in Chennai.

The University of Aberdeen became the first of the UK’s ancient universities and the first Scottish university to receive permission to set up a branch campus in India. The proposal was expected to go before the University’s governing body Court for approval next month.

The issuance of the LoIs marked a significant step toward implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s vision for the internationalisation of higher education in India. With this, the recipient universities received the official go-ahead to set up their campuses in the country.

Sources told The Indian Express that after the UGC handed over the LoIs, the universities received an 18-month timeline to announce admissions for a fresh cohort. Most of these institutions were likely to begin their admission cycles before December 2026.

Earlier, two UK universities, the University of Southampton and the University of Liverpool, had announced plans to open campuses in India. The University of Southampton was scheduled to begin its first admission cycle this September at its Gurgaon campus, while the University of Liverpool was expected to start operations by September 2026 in Bengaluru.

The new universities were expected to come up in Navi Mumbai, as part of a planned International Education City near the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. The Government of Maharashtra, with support from CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation), led this initiative to create a dedicated 5-km education hub, the first of its kind in India, where students could access world-class international education without going abroad.

In May, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that CIDCO planned to set up this ‘Edu City’ in Navi Mumbai, which would host foreign university campuses for the first time in India.