Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates University of Southampton Delhi campus in Gurugram

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the University of Southampton in Haryana’s Gurugram, making it the first foreign university to start a campus in India under the University Grants Commission’s (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations.

The Gurugram campus will offer globally-recognised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes aligned with UK academic standards. Students may spend up to one year at the university’s foreign campuses in the United Kingdom (UK) or Malaysia.

University of Southampton Delhi courses, students, faculty

From the 2025-26 session, the university’s India campus will start BSc courses in computer science, economics, accounting and finance, business management, and postgraduate (MSc) courses in finance and international management.

The first cohort at the University of Southampton Delhi campus includes academically accomplished students from across India and international locations such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nepal.

The university will hire over 75 full-time faculty members who meet UK academic standards and will be expected to undertake the university’s postgraduate certificate in academic practice. These faculty members will bring their experience from academic centres in the UK, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

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Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that the event marks a momentous milestone towards internationalisation of education at home under the National Education Policy ( NEP ) 2020, and also towards strengthening the education pillar of India-UK cooperation as envisioned in the India-UK Roadmap 2030.

He commended and congratulated Southampton University for setting up this state-of-the-art campus within a year of receiving the letter of interest. He expressed confidence that the campus, with its pool of futuristic courses and Southampton’s legacy of academic excellence, will emerge as a distinguished institution shaping leaders of tomorrow.

He urged the University of Southampton leadership to start STEM courses at the Gurugram campus and added that this campus should aim to become a hub of solutions for global challenges.