New Delhi: The number of foreign students enrolled in Indian higher education institutes fell by 2.6 per cent in the past year—from 49,348 in 2019-20 to 48,035 in 2020-21—the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) showed.
The number of countries sending their nationals to Indian institutes also decreased, from 168 to 163, as per the survey report released by the Ministry of Education on January 29.
A reason behind this decrease can be India’s lack of employment opportunities for foreign nationals, an ex-IIT professor told indianexpress.com. “When it comes to employment opportunities, western countries such as the US, the UK, Australia, Canada etc have better options for foreign nationals. Considering that the majority of these countries have now reopened their borders after the Covid pandemic, students would prefer heading to these countries to study and then get a job, rather than coming to India,” the professor said.
He said that Indian institutes did not provide the best entry points for foreign nationals. “The top Indian institutes such as the IITs have a very difficult entry criteria, and that makes it tougher for foreign nationals to get admission in India. As a last resort, the foreign students get admission to smaller and private Indian institutes. This might be another reason behind this decrease, as students would prefer to head to developed countries rather than study in private Indian institutes,” the professor added.
While the number of foreign students in India decreased in the past year, there has been an increase of 0.96 per cent in the past five years. A total of 47,575 foreign nationals were registered in Indian institutes in 2016, after which the number decreased to 46,144 in 2017. However, the number increased to 47,427 in 2018 and 49,348 in 2019.
Most foreign students come from neighbouring countries. The top 10 countries from where students come to India include Nepal (28.25 per cent), Afghanistan (8.4 per cent), Bangladesh (5.7 per cent), the United States (5.1 per cent), the United Arab Emirates (4.8 per cent), Bhutan (3.8 per cent), Sudan (3.3per cent), Nigeria (2.9 per cent), Tanzania (2.7 per cent) and Yemen (2.3 per cent).
Foreign Students’ Distribution
Nepal (13,574), Afghanistan (4,078), Bangladesh (2,750), US (2,458), UAE (2,307)
Additionally, the number of male students coming from the top 10 countries was higher than the number of female students, which is similar to the trend in 2019 (barring the US and Malaysia).
The highest number of foreign students are enrolled in undergraduate courses (75.9 per cent), followed by postgraduate (16.2 per cent), diploma (3.21 per cent) and PhD (3.03 per cent) programmes.
B Tech is the most popular course among foreign students (with 11,245 students), followed by BSc (3,439), BBA (3,314), B Com (2,605), BE (2,541), MBA (2,099), B Pharm (2,021 students) and BCA (1,918 students).
With 8,137 foreign students, Karnataka has once again emerged to be the most popular state, followed by Punjab (6,557), Maharashtra (4,912), Uttar Pradesh (4,654), Tamil Nadu (3,685), Delhi (2,809), Gujarat (2,646), Andhra Pradesh (2,385) and Odisha (2,180).
Agencies

Press Trust of India