India, a global education hub?

With over 200 Fortune 500 companies recruiting from Indian campuses regularly, the government now plans to establish India as a brand in the higher education sector and grab the attention of global education community.

The education sector over the years has become sizable and is a growing business across the globe. Thus in a bid to tap India's potential as a global education destination, a series of initiatives have been launched by the government to attract more and more international students to Indian public and private institutions.

"Education these days contributes to a great extent to any country's foreign exchange earnings. For instance in the US, education and training sector ranks fifth in export of services. Given the crossroads at which the Indian education sector stands today, there is an immense potential to bring international student traffic to India," said A K Motwani, director (technical), Educational Consultants India Limited, a nodal agency for placement of international students in Indian institutions.

Estimates show that almost 1.8 million students are studying outside their home country worldwide and important factors considered by students looking for international education options are cost, proximity and overlap with their cultural values.

"Under these circumstances, India offers a friendly environment, cultural diversity and best value for money option to students from SARRC, Middle East and South East Asia", Motwani adds.

"Moreover, one of the underlying benefit of increased international student traffic is the resultant globalisation of our campuses, which can go a long way in enhancing the profile of educational institutions as well.

"Also international students not only bring foreign exchange but have non-quantifiable benefits like two-way supports in trade and investments, and closer international business connections," said Motwani.

Educationalists here say with its vast and developed network of 300 universities of higher learning and over 15,000 colleges in the field of engineering, IT, bio-technology, management, medicine, agriculture, pharmacy and other numerous options in almost all fields, India has an edge over other developing countries.

According to statistics while India has a potential to afford about 50,000 foreign students in the next couple of years, presently only about 10,000 are studying in India.

Officials say while students from Nepal, Bhutan and Middle East have been regular feature in Indian universities, efforts are on to raise the profile of Indian education system in countries like China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mauritius, Thailand, Eithopia, Kenya and other African countries.