International Student Mobility India Perspective

Aman Mittal

Director International Affairs

Lovely Professional University

“Unity through diversity” is the theme of the over one billion people that live in a country that is so big, it’s called a

subcontinent!

Some Figures and Comparisons

•According to the Association of Indian Universities, the number of international students has risen from a little over 13,000 in 2004-05 to more than 21,000 in 2007-08.

•While most students are from Asia, especially countries in South Asia, Africa sent some 2,000 students.

• Singapore had 80,000 international students in 2006 and aims to raise this number to 150,000 by 2015.

•China received 190,000 overseas students in 2007 and has set a target of 500,000 by 2020.

Top 10 destination countries for students worldwide • United States (18% of total mobile students) • United Kingdom (11%) • France (7%) • Australia (6%) • Germany (5%) • Russian Federation (4%) • Japan (4%) • Canada (3%) • China (2%) • Italy (2%)

Top 10 countries of origin of mobile students: • China (694,400 students studying abroad)

• India (189,500) • Republic of Korea (123,700) • Germany (117,600) • Saudi Arabia (62,500) • France (62,400) • United States (58,100) • Malaysia (55,600) • Viet Nam (53,800) • Iran (51,600)

*UNESCO data till 2012

Students from 28 countries have chosen LPU

Countries Represented

Afghanistan Mauritius Bangladesh Nepal Bhutan Nigeria Burundi Rwanda Canada Saudi Arabia Cameroon Ghana Congo South Korea Germany Sudan Indonesia Tanzania Iran Uganda Kenya UK Thailand USA Mongolia Yemen Maldives Zambia

International Student Challenges • Visa Challenges – Not granted for the complete duration

• FRRO – Though now made online but International Students still need to interface police

• Students of some countries visa extension take months together

• Exit policy not clear – FRRO exit permit required

• Visa Paper Guidelines not clear. HIV test is must or not

• No clarity for 3rd Party service providers like telecom to provide services

Institution Challenges

• No Government support to promote such important facet of University education

• Scholarship given under ICCR or other such bodies are being sent to colleges/university famous without much thought

• U.S. Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade, Francisco Sánchez, recently led a hugely successful education trade mission of 66 U.S. colleges and universities to Brazil on August 30- September 05, 2012, which was the largest-ever education services trade mission led by U.S. Commercial Service (CS), Sánchez said.

• “Education is a growing service export for the United States and supports American jobs.

International students can also help in economy and building academic environment

• While lakhs of Indian students study abroad, contributing an estimated Rs 50,000 crores to foreign countries,

• India attracts less than a 20000 foreign students and inflow of well below Rs 1000 crores. What can we do to balance this?

• Attracting foreign students to Indian Universities is not at all a mere economic proposition.

• Injecting foreign students into our state Universities can work wonders in terms of triggering changes in intellectual environment and academic system

Thank You