IITs develop mechanisms to increase foreign student enrolments



The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are making concerted efforts towards the internationalisation of education and increasing foreign student intake. Since the admission process at the IITs is very rigorous, every applicant, whether domestic or international, is equally thoroughly vetted before being offered admission. However, every year there are hundreds of highly qualified international students who are offered admission to the IITs, yet do not enrol for lack of financial support. The IITs are devising ways to offer them scholarships to make it possible for them to afford the quality education that they offer. Additionally, a proposal for International IIT Centres abroad is being developed that will serve as hubs for the IITs’ individual and collective outreach.
At the recent 4th All IITs International Relations Conclave held at IIT Gandhinagar, these issues were discussed. “Presently there are around 600 international students at the 23 IITs, which is under 1% of the student strength of the IITs. A couple of older IITs have marginally higher proportions. Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and some African countries have been the principal draw, although, given the small numbers, there are some differences among the IITs from year to year. It is impractical to launch sustained outreach and recruitment efforts overseas, which can be costly as well as demanding on faculty time for an individual IIT. We hope that the IIT International Centres will make it cost and time-effective for all the IITs to expand their footprint abroad,” says Achal Mehra, professor and coordinator, International Programs, IIT Gandhinagar.
Campus versus International Centres
He explains, “While a handful of IITs are exploring the option of setting up campuses overseas, and they will take years to develop, the focus of the International Centres is outreach and recruitment of international students for the India campuses of all IITs and that market will always be there for those IITs that do not have a campus in the region.”
Key challenges
Highlighting the key challenges of international students which to an extent leads to fewer enrolments, Mehra says, “Presently, several hundred international students are offered admission to the different IITs under various government schemes but are unable to join us as they are mostly from developing countries with modest financial personal resources. The expectation is that if we have scholarships targeted at international students who meet our rigorous admission requirements, the vast majority of these students would enrol at the IITs.”
Increasing intake
Commenting on the long-term outcomes, Mehra elaborates, “We see these scholarships as an initial investment to start the process of attracting even larger numbers of international students. Once our reputation spreads and the enrolled students share the benefits of our educational experience in their home countries, it will help us attract many more international students who would be willing to pay for their education. Many of them are currently spending multiple times more to attend second and third tier institutions in the West. Over time, international students will become a financially rewarding proposition for the IITs, in much the same way that so many universities in the West currently benefit. They too had started their initial effort with scholarships and fellowships to widen their outreach among international students.”
Scholarship options
At IIT Delhi which hosts around 125 master’s and PhD students from Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and African countries, in addition to 10 exchange students from Europe, efforts are on to advertise 500 PhD fellowships through embassies, consulates and partnering institutions. “Most of the international students relish the opportunities offered by the IITs though they need more well-equipped hostels as they are used to better living standards,” says Naveen Garg, dean, of International Programs, IIT Delhi where a hostel with AC facilities was launched to give more priority to international students. Garg says that research, science and technology require the best minds and multiple perspectives, and that can largely be achieved through the IITs’ international student engagements.
Raghunathan Rengaswamy, professor and dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras, says, foreign students on campus can enhance the international exposure of Indian students in the IITs. “It can increase diversity, promote inclusive education, and make India a global study destination as articulated in NEP 2020.”
At IIT Madras where there are 100 international students in multiple streams from around 15 countries, Rengaswamy says that the challenges of international students are mostly “related to timely visa processes and difficulty with obtaining permissions to work in India post their degree”.