Dr. Shaik Suleman is the General Manager of Overseas Education Services at EdCIL India Ltd. EdCIL is a mini-ratna government company under the Ministry of Human Resource Development which provides education consultancy services to the MHRD.
- Russia launched an initiative known as ‘5/100 initiative’ to boost the international faculty and students in its universities by 2020 as part of a wider plan to develop the global competitiveness of their universities. How does the government plan to increase its institutions’ global competitiveness?
Indian government in the recent days is trying to enhance the standards of the premier institutions of India and is already inviting foreign faculty through the ‘Gyan’ program. We are progressing in this endeavour.
- According to HRD ministry’s All India Report on Higher Education 2015-16, only 45,424 foreign students were enrolled in Indian educational institutes whereas Indian students are the second largest source of international postgraduates in the UK. Are there any incentives the government plans to offer to invite more international students?
The official number is 45,424 students but informally more students are coming to India i.e. 1 lac students. Currently the government isn’t planning for any incentives but is working to generate more opportunities for foreign students to come and study in India. At present, our premier institutions like IIMs and IITs do not have any quota for foreign students but the government being a part of the Kasturirangan Committee is planning on providing some quota to foreign students which will hopefully increase their number.
3. At present, roughly a third of all German students spend some time at a university outside Germany during their degree programme and are working to increase it to 50%, are any plans in the pipeline for us, Indian students?
The UGC (University Grants Commission) has given directions to the universities stating that in the designing of the curriculum there should be an ‘Industry Interaction’ like Barcelona where students attend morning classes for theory study and in the afternoon they visit industries. Some of the deemed universities are planning for similar industry interaction. The government has initiated and the plans are in the initial stages, nothing has been finalised yet.
- The University of California at Berkeley is setting up a new campus at Richmond Bay, California, where it plans to host 4-5 Asian and European universities.Has the Ministry thought of setting an Indian university in their campus?
We have not yet been given green signals regarding the same but renowned private universities of India like Manipal University etc. are planning to set up their campuses on foreign soils.
- Providing incentives and inviting more international students would strength India’s ties with their countries and greatly influence India’s image as an emerging ‘education hub’, don’t you think?
We can provide scholarships to foreign meritorious students in the fee structure etc. Other than that, quality of education in the institutions need to be improved. Also, the communication and liaising between the institutions and foreign students need to be strengthened like smooth travelling, helping them in settling down in the Indian culture and exposing them to the Indian culture and diversity. Such aspects play a major role as well. For India to become an education hub, we need to upgrade our curriculum and provide courses with international validity like Big Data, Data Analytics or IOT (Internet of Things). On the other hand, we are very strong with IT and Science field. The other courses where we are not renowned but good marketing would solve the problem, then there is no stopping India from becoming an education hub.
Feature Image Credits : DU Beat
Prachi Mehra