Top education institutions to take in foreign students

New Delhi: The Centre has decided to open the gates of country's premier institutions for foreign students. As per the move, which is resurrecting the 'credibility' of country's technical and management institutions, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has decided to relax the norms for foreign students for admission in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

According to a senior HRD official, the ministry has allowed foreign students to study in premier technical and management institutions without appearing in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission in IITs and Combined Aptitude Test (CAT) for admission in IIMs under Study in India programme.

The Study in India initiative, which would help in increasing the number of students from overseas, would be launched on Wednesday.

"Under the flagship programme, other institutes would also provide relaxation in fees to students from foreign students. However, students from overseas would not get any scholarship on behalf of the government," the official said, adding that the HRD Ministry has created a web portal christened as Study in India to facilitate interested students.

"The portal would serve as a single window for foreign students and students would be able to obtain information about various institutions of the country through the portal. Students can apply for an institution of their choice directly through the portal," the official said, adding that more than 60 higher education institutions, including IIT Roorkee, Symbiosis, have been added to this portal.

"More than 5 lakh students go abroad from our country, while only 45,000 foreign students come to India for higher studies. We are hoping a respectable increase in the number of overseas students as our education is much cheaper and better than other developed countries," the official said, adding that it would be applicable from this year academic season onwards.

"At present, we are focusing on 30 countries of SAARC, Western Asia, East Asia and Africa. The Indian Embassy and consulates function in all 30 countries have been directed to appoint a representative of Study in India programme to motivate students studying in India," the official said.