One of India’s largest colleges, Amity University, is expanding into the US with the purchase of one campus in New York and a proposal to buy two more, drawing opposition from state officials in Massa
One of India’s largest colleges, Amity University, is expanding into the US with the purchase of one campus in New York and a proposal to buy two more, drawing opposition from state officials in Massachusetts about the quality of the education it will offer.
Dozens of US colleges have opened overseas campuses, but few foreign schools have sought to establish branches in the United States, in part because of the cost and tighter regulation. Amity University, a system of private colleges based in New Delhi, has long sought to create a global network of schools, however.
Since it was founded in 2003, the chain has opened campuses in India, England, China, South Africa and five other countries.
Amity paid $22 million last month to buy a Long Island branch of St. John’s University in New York City, which was selling the campus and shifting to a smaller site on Long Island. Amity plans to open its first US branch at the 170-acre, century-old campus after it gains ownership in June 2017.
The chain also has made a deal to buy the New England Institute of Art, a for-profit college near Boston, and one of its sister schools, the Art Institute of New York City, according to paperwork filed in Massachusetts.
The deal would require approval from state education officials. “We are very, very sceptical about this,” said Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey, who is asking the state’s Board of Higher Education to block the sale.
Amity hopes a US campus will attract students from abroad who want to gain the prestige that comes with studying in the US. It also hopes to forge research partnerships with other colleges, and to connect foreign scholars with counterparts here.
Owned by a nonprofit company, the chain offers bachelor’s and graduate degrees in a range of fields, from art to engineering. It enrolls 125,000 students at more than a dozen campuses, and has grown rapidly amid rising demand for higher education in India.
Some in the US say the school is more similar to a for-profit college than a traditional four-year university.
