Question : Quality Education

(a) whether India can provide high quality education at an affordable price to the foreign
students;
(b) if so, the number of foreign students currently enrolled across institutions;
(c) whether the Government is working on an ambitious mission to draw over one lakh foreign
students to study in Indian institutions under ‘Study in India’ mission;
(d) if so, the facts in this regard;
(e) whether the Government has targeted the countries for sending students to India for higher
studies; and
(f) whether the Ministry has consulted the Ministry of External Affairs in this regard and if so,
the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

(DR SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a): Government of India has taken a number of initiatives to attract foreign students to study
in India including recently launched Study in India(SII) Programme. Though affordability in
respect of a foreign student is a relative term and mostly depends on various factors such as
country of origin, financial background of a foreign student, studying in India in itself is
generally considered affordable. However, under SII Programme, meritorious foreign students
are offered scholarships and the participating institutions offer fee waivers ranging from 100%
to 25% on merit basis making the cost of study even more affordable.
(b): The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has published an occasional paper 2017/1
“Internationalisation of Higher Education in India – Annual Survey of International Students in
India 2014-15” in which the details of foreign students studying in India University-wise, in
respect of the member institutions of the AIU, is available. This paper can be accessed at
http://www.aiu.ac.in/International/AIU_International_Students_2017%20(2).pdf.
(c) to (f): The Government of India has taken various steps for increasing the inflow of foreign
students in the country. MHRD has launched Study in India Programme on 18.04.2018, with
due consultation with Ministry of External Affairs, with the aim to make India an education
destination/hub for foreign students by way of increasing the inflow of inbound International
Students through systematic brand building, marketing, social media and digital marketing
campaigns. The programme focuses on attracting foreign students from select 30 plus countries.
The programme envisages participation of select reputed Indian institutes/universities by way of
offering seats for the International students at affordable rates, along with fee waivers to
meritorious foreign students ranging from 100% to 25%. The program offers scholarships also
to meritorious students. A centralised admission web-portal (https://studyinindia.gov.in) acts as
a single window for the admission of foreign students. In the first round, more than 5000
foreign students have been placed in different institutions in the year 2018-19.
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