Indian missions to guide foreign students

Move targeted at marketing India as a lucrative destination for higher studies.

Indian embassies abroad will soon start promoting India as an education hub. The University Grants Commission's PIHEAD (Promotion of Indian Higher Education Abroad) committee is in talks with the Ministry of External Affairs and Home Affairs to provide Indian embassies with professionals called 'Education Attachés'.

Educational Attachés will be designated personnel at the Indian High Commissions who will give information about Indian universities and courses to foreign students who wish to pursue higher studies in India.

"Most foreign nations have a dedicated agency and website for the purpose of promoting education offered in their country. India would greatly benefit by devising a specific strategy on how to promote Indian education abroad. This would mean improving the standards of education imparted, quality of the students' experience, marketing efforts, post graduation employment opportunities, information centres/ knowledge resources in the students' home countries etc," says Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, head, PIHEAD committee and Joint Director, Symbiosis International University.

Though the UGC does not have proper statistics on how many students come to study in India, the number is estimated to be around 20,000 at present.

The number is estimated to increase to 50,000 students in the next two years. Pune and Bangalore are said to be favourite destinations for international students.

"We can say that inflow of foreign students in India has almost doubled in the last five years. Pune itself has 10,000 international students studying here. Also, five years ago, Symbiosis International University, Pune had students from around 30 countries. We now have students from 63 different destinations." adds Yeravdekar.

India attracts students in big numbers from the SAARC, West Asia, African and South East Asian countries.

Most of these students come to India to pursue higher studies in business management and humanities. Engineering and bio-technology also remains a hot favourite with them. However, with this initiative, the UGC plans to attract students from Europe and the US too, which incidentally, does not send many students to India.

All international students wanting to come to India for their higher education need to obtain a valid students visa. For this, they must visit the Indian Mission in their respective countries.

"By having a qualified educational attache at the Indian Mission, we can ensure that the students are guided with the right information and are sure about the university and course they are choosing. Also, the Indian mission would be able to sift out the genuine students from those who want an easy access to India under the guise of education. Though Indian Missions in the US and the UK already have a first secretary/education counsellor who handles the portfolio of education, we need to provide this person with the necessary inputs and information (from the Indian Universities) to offer appropriate counselling,"adds Yeravdekar.

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STUDENT FILES

Educational Attachés, will guide international students about Indian universities

At present India has around 20,000 students. The number could go up to 50,000 in next 2 years. Pune and Bangalore remain a favourite destinations with international students

Foreign students opt for courses in business management; humanities; engineering & bio-technology