NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday handed over Letter of Intent (LoI) to five foreign universities to set up their branch campuses in Mumbai. The five universities are — Chicago’s Illinois Tech, Scotland’s University of Aberdeen, UK’s University of York, University of Western Australia and Italy’s IED Instituto Europeo di Design. “The historic city of Mumbai – is a city of dreams and resilience. It is also known for its intellect and spirit of enterprise. Mumbai EduCity being envisioned at Navi Mumbai will poise Mumbai to lead in the education sector and also situate it amongst global knowledge capitals. “Mumbai EduCity is a bold statement towards shaping a global, future-ready education ecosystem and facilitating two-way movement of ideas, talent and trust in line with the ethos of NEP 2020,” Pradhan said. “A massive stride towards internationalisation of India’s education, it reflects our journey from ‘resolution to realisation’ towards empowering youth with world-class education,” he added. The education minister said that Mumbai EduCity is an attempt to “honour our civilisational spirit and reclaim our legacy” as a global seat of learning, innovation and wisdom.“We are not just inviting foreign universities, we are co-creating ecosystems for driving innovation, entrepreneurship and research. I call upon the world to establish new models of global co-creation and for shaping future of education,” he said. In 2023, the University Grants Commission had announced setting up and operation of campuses under the Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India Regulations. While the UK’s Southampton University is in the process of setting up its campus in India this year, two Australian universities – Deakin and Wollongong – already have campuses in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). The Queen’s University Belfast and the Coventry University have also received approval for setting up campuses in the GIFT City.