India may be home to about 1000 universities, 40,000 colleges and world-renowned IITs, but when it comes to attracting foreign students, it presents a rather dismal record.
According to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2018-19 released recently, India had managed to attract only 47,427 foreign students for higher studies till the end of this March.
In comparison, the tiny state of Singapore, with a handful of institutes, has 76,000 foreign students enrolled for various studies.
The poor enrollment rate of foreign students was one of the reasons why none of the Indian institutes could make it to the top 300 of Times Higher Education’s global ranking list 2020.
One of the key parameters to judge an institute in the ranking order is its ability to attract foreign students and its global standing. India failed once again on this particular count, even as neighbouring China managed to place seven of its institutes in the top 100. This is because it is seemingly emerging as an educational powerhouse for foreign pupils.
AISHE survey report:
According to (AISHE), the highest share of foreign students in Indian campuses are from neighbouring Nepal (26.88 per cent), followed by Afghanistan (9.8 per cent), Bangladesh (4.38 per cent), Sudan (4.02 per cent), Bhutan (3.82 per cent) and Nigeria (3.4 per cent).
Only 1518 students from USA are enrolled for higher studies in Indian universities, 53.3 per cent of whom are girls.
Among the Indian states, Karnataka attracts the highest number of foreign students, followed by Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
India’s neighbour China has about 4.89 lakh foreign students in its universities, while Spain, which is one-seventh the size of India, is home to about 94,962 foreign students.
The United States leads the table with over 10 lakh foreign students enrolled for various programmes. They come mostly from China, India and South Korea.
