India Targets 200,000 Foreign Students by 2030

The government has intensified its Study in India programme and is working closely with universities and states to achieve this goal.

Study in India Programme Intensified

The Centre is aiming to quadruple the yearly intake of international students in Indian education institutions to 200,000 by 2030 from around 50,000 currently, as the government plans to market India as a transnational education hub offering policy certainty and geopolitical stability to students.

"The government has intensified its Study in India programme and is working closely with universities and states to achieve this goal," said an official with the Department of Higher Education.

As part of this effort, he added that talks are ongoing with both central and state universities to expand capacity and ensure adequate infrastructure, such as hostel facilities for international students.

India Targets 200,000 Foreign Students

The ministry of education informed Rajya Sabha recently that India has 72,218 foreign students from 200 countries currently studying in the country.

The issue was discussed during the chief secretaries conference in January, with states expected to play a key role since many of the foreign students are expected to enrol in state universities.

"FHEIs setting up campuses in India will also be allowed to admit international students," he said.

Officials added that the government is in talks with at least two to three more foreign higher education institutions (FHEIs) to open campuses in India this year.

Foreign Universities Opening India Campuses

While the institutes were not named, officials told Business Standard that these would include institutes from the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia.

Till now, 19 FHEIs have been allowed to open campuses in India, by getting letters of intent from the ministry.

Of these, the University of Southampton has already started classes at its Gurugram campus.

While batch sizes will be initially small, officials said that almost all FHEI have kept their tuition costs 25 to 50 per cent lower than what it costs in their respective countries.

"This was not a prerequisite condition, but the universities have done so to make their education more economical for Indian students," the official added.

UGC Rules Enable Global Universities

The development follows the University Grants Commission's 2023 notification of rules facilitating the entry of foreign higher educational institutions into India, as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 reforms.

According to these regulations, foreign institutions seeking to establish campuses in India must rank within the top 500 globally in either overall or subject-wise rankings and demonstrate outstanding expertise in their fields, subject to UGC approval.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff