Budget 2019: ‘Study in India’ to Focus on Foreign Students, Promote India as Study Destination

The ‘Study in India’ campaign by the central government, announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her Budget speech on Friday, is bound to get a big thumbs up from the international student community, especially from those in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

The campaign focuses on bringing international students to study in top ranking higher educational institutions in India. “India has historically been a destination for higher knowledge. In continuation of this historical strength, 100 top institutions in the country are identified to admit 30,000 international students every year. They will get premier education at affordable rates,” said the statement from the human resource development ministry.

More than 70,000 students from 190 countries have already applied for admissions in these seats in the current year. With the help of the campaign, the government is expecting a quantum jump in the number of international students in the country.

The aim of the campaign is to make available high quality premier education in India at affordable costs for international students.

The countries that have registered maximum number of students are Ehtiopia (12,047), Nigeria (11,108), Afghanistan (7,905), Nepal (7,806), Bangladesh (5,902), Kenya (3,626), Tanzania (3,531), Rwanda (2,542) Ghana (2,344) and Uganda (2,018). In all, there are registrations from over 190 countries.

The aim is to make India a study destination and for this, the campaign identifies premier institutions that are in the top 100 National Institutional Ranking Framework rankings or Institutes of National Importance.

It provides for supernumerary seats for meritorious international students. Foreign students are admitted in Indian institutions only in the supernumerary seats quota of 15%. This means that regular quota of seats for Indian students won't be affected at all

There is a single portal where international students can opt for multiple courses in multiple institutions. The campaign provides free-ships for the meritorious students and also looks into infrastructure and supporting facilities for receiving international students; providing a liberal regulatory regime for easy access of international students for study purpose.

A total of 100 institutions have been shortlisted and they are offering more than 30 schemes for the international students covering bachelor’s degree, post-graduation and PhD programmes.

Under the ‘Champion Sector Scheme’, 2,500 scholarships are being offered to worthy students covering their living costs as well as tuition fees. In order to improve the living facilities for the international students, international hostels are being constructed at the cost of Rs 10 crore per institution.

The HRD ministry provides 1,000 scholarships for Syria, a special dispensation is provided for Syrian students of high merit. The admissions process for ‘Study in India’ will be complete by August 1, 2019.

The institutions are free to choose their own fee structure for the international students, the ministry said. However, it may be seen that in one-third of the seats, institutions offer free-ships varying from 25 per cent to 100 per cent to meritorious students.