NEW DELHI: Aiming to boost the flow of foreign students to India, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) organised a conference on ‘Destination India: Making India the Preferred Hub of Education’.
Speaking at the event Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President, ICCR said, “India can become one of the top 15 education hubs in the world but it is facing certain challenges. Currently, 40,000 to 50,000 students come to Indian for higher education. This is not an impressive number.”
Tackling these challenges will help push India’s position up the ladder, he said.
“Many Indian higher educational institutions are offering fee waivers and scholarships to attract foreign students and boost their international rankings. Other than this making the visa procedures simpler, sprucing up facilities, employability, ease of cultural and social assimilation are some of the areas that can be improved upon,” Sahasrabudde added.
ICCR offers various scholarship schemes for foreign students wanting to study in India. The General Scholarship Scheme (GSS) covers a large number of countries. Almost all disciplines except medicine are covered by these schemes.
According to its annual report for 2018-19, at any point in time, around 6,000 foreign students are enrolled by ICCR from around 140 countries.
There are over 4,700 students currently studying in various programs in India mostly from African and Asian countries. The event was held in collaboration with Symbiosis International University and Savitribai Phule Pune University.