Budget 2019 | ‘Study in India’ will be promoted through a mix of easier entry, better facilities

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Union Budget proposed a scheme called ‘Study in India’ to attract foreign students to pursue higher education on the country.

This will not just allow students easier entry, enable them access the local jobs market, but also help set up requisite infrastructure facilities for international pupils.

“India has the potential to become a hub of higher education. I, therefore, propose to start a programme, ‘Study in India’, that will focus on bringing foreign students to study in our higher educational institutions,” said Sitharaman in her Budget speech.

It is estimated that 45,000 international students study in higher education institutes across India. The Budget proposal is expected to give a boost to these numbers. It is likely that a thrust on education infrastructure and focus on research will attract more number of foreign students to India.

This is important because India performs poorly when it comes to attracting international students into the country. On the other hand, there has been an annual rise in the number of Indian students going abroad for higher education by 20-25 percent.

Improve quality to attract talent

While the idea is to attract international students, this will be possible only when the country has quality institutions that can be tagged world-class.

Addressing the issue in her Budget speech, Sitharaman said five years ago, there were no Indian institutes featuring in the Top 200 of the QS World University Rankings. However, three institutes now feature on the list.

"The fact that three institutes feature in global rankings (QS) is due to the consistent efforts of the educational institutes. We want to boost those efforts and have proposed a three-fold increase in the funding for this purpose," she added.

Budget 2019 proposed the allocation for world-class institutions to be increased to Rs 400 crore from Rs 128.9 crore. The idea is that more the number of world-class institutes, more will be the number of foreign students.

Reduce brain-drain and enable student mobility

Countries like the United States and United Kingdom have a high ratio of Indian students. For instance, there were 2,49,763 Indian students enrolled into higher education institutes in the US alone, in 2017.

The government is also well aware of this fact. The draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 released earlier this year said while Indian students are increasingly travelling abroad for their studies, only approximately 45,000 (11,250 per year) international students study in Indian higher education institutions.

This makes India the 26th ranked country among the top destinations for international student mobility. This accounts for less than 1 percent of global international student mobility, given that globally, nearly 5 million students were reported to be studying outside their home countries in 2014.

An important impetus has to come in the form of better education infrastructure. For instance, several of the new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) do not have a permanent campus yet.

P Christie, XLRI- Xavier School of Management, said, "With respect to the reforms proposed in higher education, the intent of the government can truly be attained if long-term strategy and organisational structure is in place."

As part of the expenditure budget, a sum of Rs 20 lakh has been allocated for internationalisation of higher education. This may look like a paltry sum, but given that this is the first of its kind, a start at least has been made. This is expected to give a boost to improvement of the curriculum and research activities.

Similarly, a sum of Rs 608.87 crore has been allocated for research and innovation in FY20, which is a 150 percent increase over the revised estimate of 2018-19. This would encourage more Indian students to focus on these activities and get their papers published in international journals. This, in turn, would promote these institutions as an attractive education destination for foreigners.

Prashant Gupta, Executive Director, Sharda University, said while the allocation of Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education, 'Study in India' among others are all steps in the right direction, the emphasis on quality education and improving the overall infrastructure will help the country become future-ready.

Ease of entry for international students

NEP proposes that the ease of entry for international students will be improved. Here, the Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (National Education Commission) chaired by the Prime Minister will examine the formalities required by various ministries to achieve this.

After this, all the information will available on a ‘Study in India’ Portal that will be set up by the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry.

It will also work with all the relevant ministries to improve processes and set transparent criteria for permissions. The visa and Foreigner Registration Regional Office (FRRO) processes, extension of stay and internship policies will be simplified to attract high-quality students from all over the world.

The National Research Foundation will support special schemes for offering research scholarships to talented international students from developing countries. Good quality credit-based short-term Indian studies courses will be offered to enable students who wish to stay for a shorter period.

Further, students who have completed a degree in India will be allowed to seek employment in the country for a pre-decided period of time.

Experiencing local cultures

NEP has proposed that the educational institutions keen on hosting international students must create the additional infrastructure, such as residential facilities, required to host them, either on their own or in partnerships with service providers.

The ‘Study in India’ plan is also likely to focus on providing a safe study and living environment for international students. These include assigning faculty mentors, host families and student buddies and offering local language courses among others.

Brand building and scholarships

Most students research online or rely on ‘word-of-mouth’ to decide on the educational institution for higher studies. It is likely that the Budget announcement will also lead to a brand-building campaign for attracting students from abroad.

NEP had also proposed that all stakeholders, including the government and the institutions themselves, must undertake a brand-building exercise.

Further, more number of scholarships for international students could also be offered. This would include students from both developed and developing markets.

At present, India is not on a top-of-the-mind destination when it comes to international education. A consistent push to improve infrastructure while promoting research would be the key to the success of the ‘Study in India’ initiative.