Lok Sabha Question No. 1360 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-10
Subject: Foreign Students
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: E. T. Mohammed Basheer

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1360

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2020

## Foreign Students

## 1360. SHRI E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government for attracting foreign students to India;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government for the development of outreach programme for the benefit of common man from universities?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a) to (c): Government of India has initiated several measures for making India a preferred  destination  for  International  Students.  One  of  the  flagship  schemes  of Government of India is Study in India with the objectives to make India an education hub for foreign students through a systematic brand-building, marketing, social media and digital marketing campaigns. A centralised admission web-portal (https://studyinindia.gov.in)  acts  as  a  single  window  for  the  admission  of  foreign students.

Apart from this, there are 10% supernumerary seats available in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and 15% for National Institutes of Technology (NITs) for foreign students.  The  NITs  admit  students  through  the Direct  Admission  of  Students  Abroad (DASA) scheme.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) encourages the Indian Universities/Institutes for enrolling more foreign students in their courses for upgrading the standard of the institutes/universities. The UGC has notified several regulations with a view to sustain and improve the quality of higher education and to undertake academic reforms. Government of India has declared 20 Educational Institutions as Institutions of Eminence (IoE) to provide world class education to the Indian Students with autonomy to admit foreign students up to 30%. Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development  has  also  launched  (in  October, 2018) a Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), which  aims  at  improving  the  research  ecosystem  of  India's  higher  educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations involving mobility of students/faculty  for long term research and teaching  activities. More details may be accessed on https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in. India has also joined the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) DUO-India fellowship programme  as  a  contributing  partner.  DUO-India  aims  to  fund  every  year,  100 student-pairs and 50 faculty pairs for exchanges for one semester, starting from 2020 onwards aiming to provide mobility between Indian and European institutes.

With  a  view  to  providing  opportunity  for  foreign  students  to  study  in  IITs, foreign students are allowed to appear directly in JEE(Advanced). JEE(Advanced) is conducted  in  different  locations  abroad  to  facilitate  foreign  students.  Further,  the Government  has  approved  grant  of  upto  1000  fellowship  to  students  of  ASEAN countries to pursue integrated Ph.D. programmes in the IITs, at a total outlay of Rs. 300 Cr. for a period of 7 years. For the foreign students admitted, fellowship will be provided at the same rate as Indian students, along with the yearly research grant, as applicable.

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