Andhra Pradesh Cabinet Clears Education Act Changes to Allow Foreign University Campuses
The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Education Act, 1982, and a new policy for 2026 that will allow foreign higher educational institutions and private universities to set up campuses in the State.
The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Briefing the media after the meeting, Information and Public Relations Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy said the new policy would provide a comprehensive framework for establishing such campuses, and would also extend incentives and infrastructure facilities to them.
The move follows the University Grants Commission's 2023 regulations permitting foreign higher educational institutions to operate campuses in India, subject to conditions that include eligibility criteria linked to global rankings, and requirements on the quality and content of programmes offered. Several States have since begun framing their own rules to attract such institutions. The amendments to the 1982 Act are intended to give Andhra Pradesh a legal framework for the same purpose.
The Cabinet approved 12 agenda items in all. Among them was the establishment of a Horticulture Information and Management System (APHIMS) at a cost of ₹20.62 crore, to be implemented over 72 months. The system is expected to support the State's horticulture sector through better data collection and management.
In the health sector, the 30-bed Community Health Centre at Repalle will be upgraded to a 100-bed area hospital at a cost of ₹58.42 crore, with the creation of 66 additional posts. The Cabinet also approved gratuity for eligible ASHA workers who die while in service. The payment will be ₹5,000 for every year of service, subject to a maximum of ₹1.50 lakh, the Minister said.
The Cabinet ratified the guidelines and administrative sanctions for the 2026-27 Thalliki Vandanam scheme and approved financial assistance for an additional 58,060 beneficiaries. With this, 68,57,880 beneficiaries would be covered under the scheme, Mr. Parthasarathy said. Orders increasing diet charges in welfare hostels and residential schools were also ratified.
For tribal students, the Cabinet approved a Centre of Excellence at Marikavalasa in Visakhapatnam, which will offer intensive residential coaching for the IIT-JEE and NEET examinations. Such coaching centres are intended to improve access to professional education for students from communities that have historically been under-represented in these institutions.
On land matters, the Cabinet approved the reclassification of 1.69 acres for a guesthouse for officials of the Kuppam Area Development Authority, and ratified orders for the regularisation of encroachments on unobjectionable government poramboke lands in NTR district. In YSR Kadapa district, 7.66 acres of government land at Pathur was approved for transfer to the Endowments Department for temple development. Seven acres of land in Kondapi in Prakasam district was reclassified for a boys' residential school and hostel.
The Minister said four Ministers were absent from the meeting with prior permission.
The education amendments will take effect once the necessary legislative and administrative processes are completed. Details of the eligibility conditions, fee norms and safeguards to be imposed on foreign and private institutions under the new policy have not yet been made public.
