The number of global trainees choosing for courses in India continues to increase, based on the newest edition of the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE). In the year 2000, India invited just 6,988 foreign students, in 2019-20, the number rose to 49,348.

The foreign students come from 168 various countries around the world. The highest share of students originated from the neighbouring nations– Nepal (28.1 percent), followed by Afghanistan (9.1 per cent), Bangladesh (4.6 per cent), Bhutan (3.8 percent) and Sudan (3.6 percent).

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Engineering a hit amongst students

Karnataka is leading choice for students.

” Arts, Science courses are offered in the majority of countries and they do not need much infrastructure, however engineering has turned out to be a promising field for new avenues of work. Premier institutes in Sri Lanka, Vietnam have extremely restricted seats and most other nations do not have quality private institutes, thus students concern India for greater education,” he states.

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Of the total students who join B.Tech programmes, 83.8 percent are male. The situation is comparable for other courses– BSc (62 percent), BBA (68 percent), BE (86 percent). The gender ratio is manipulated at greater levels of education too. In MA courses, 60.2 percent of trainees are male; MSc has reported an enrolment of 1620 students with 70.3 per cent male.

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Gender disparity at all levels.

The major chunk of trainees doing undergraduate programmes goes with engineering courses. Of the total students, 9,503 are enrolled in B.Tech courses, followed by 3,964 in B.Sc, 3,290 in B.B.A and 2596 in B.E. courses.

V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, says and concurs, “IITs are not able to draw in foreign trainees at the undergraduate level as trainees are not able to split the JEE Advanced. Students second finest choice is to sign up with different private universities in India as they get quality education at an affordable cost.”.

Of the total trainees who join B.Tech programs, 83.8 per cent are male. In MA courses, 60.2 per cent of students are male; MSc has actually reported an enrolment of 1620 trainees with 70.3 per cent male.

Venugopal KR, vice-chancellor, Bangalore University, states that foreign students choose Karnataka since of no or less cultural and political disturbance in the state. “States that have a high number of worldwide trainees also have a high density of institutes. Of the total 220 engineering institutes in Karnataka, 100 remain in Bengaluru alone. Education in Indias southern area is thought about better due to the fact that of the overall high literacy rates,” he adds.

While trainees have their choice for picking a course, they certainly have a preferred city to drop in for pursuing college. The state-wise distribution reveals that Karnataka has the greatest number of students originating from foreign countries, at 10,231. Apart from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh (5089 ), Punjab (4966 ), Maharashtra (4599 ), Tamil Nadu (4461 ), Delhi (2345 ), Haryana (2321 ), Telangana (2261 ), Gujarat (2227) are other states with a significant variety of foreign student in-take.

Personal universities use generous scholarships to trainees coming from neighbouring countries, which makes the education experience more affordable,” Bansal states, including that there are an overall of 7 per cent (353) foreign trainees enrolled in Amitys B.Tech programmes.

While trainees have their preference for selecting a course, they definitely have a favourite city to drop in for pursuing higher education. The state-wise circulation reveals that Karnataka has the greatest number of students coming from foreign nations, at 10,231.

Abhay Bansal, joint head of Amity School of Engineering and Technology (ASET), Noida, states trainees choose four-year B.Tech programs due to the fact that many foreign universities require 16 years of education as eligibility criteria for masters courses.

Many trainees join engineering courses in India. (Graphic: Abhishek Mitra).

Despite most trainees signing up with engineering courses, there are really few or no takers for IITs. Arumugam thinks that this is mainly due to the fact that of the trouble level of the choice procedure that IITs follow and secondarily, the cost.

” Private universities have more autonomy than federal government institutes, which also allow us to have strong industry linkages. Institutes like IITs have specific criteria that can not be relaxed. Private universities use generous scholarships to trainees coming from neighbouring countries, which makes the education experience more cost effective,” Bansal states, adding that there are a total of 7 per cent (353) foreign trainees registered in Amitys B.Tech programmes.

Rao says that the gender variation can be credited to the international situation of STEM education, which is still a male-dominated industry. “Every year, more women sign up with STEM-related courses however the gender ratio is still skewed and will need more time to get even. A lot of neighbouring nations have similar cultures to India, where women are not motivated to pursue technical education.”.

Paramasivan Arumugam, Dean of International Relations, IIT Roorkee, says the engineering colleges in India are better than compared to those in the neighbouring nations which describes why international students who can afford an abroad education flock here.