RIYADH, 10 November 2006 — A university specially funded and dedicated by and for the non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origins (PIOs) will soon be a reality.
This was disclosed by the Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi at the Economic Editors’ Conference held in New Delhi from Nov. 8-9.
Higher education has been a major issue, especially for Gulf-based Indians, as institutes in India charge hefty fees - sometimes as high as 10 times to those compared to fees charged for local Indians.
Most of the Gulf Indians cannot afford the cost nor are they in position to educate their children in the host countries due to financial, legal and availability factors.
Earlier in 2004, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), a regulator of technical education in India, had given much needed relief to the Gulf Indians by ruling that one-third of the 15 percent supernumerary seats in different disciplines in an educational institution offering technical courses must be reserved for children of Indian workers in the Gulf.
India’s Supreme Court had directed private educational institutions to reserve 15 percent seats for NRI students. However, it has also permitted them to decide the fees to be charged by them. Indian institutes, notorious for commercializing education and for squeezing the overseas students, made it difficult for the Gulf Indians by still keeping the costs prohibitive.
The government has now promised an affordable education to overseas Indians. According to the minister, the university will have an autonomous status and will conform to the standards and regulations set by the country’s University Grants Commission, All India Center of Technical Education and the Medical Council of India education standards. The location of the university will be decided later. Nevertheless, wherever it is established Gulf students are likely to benefit.
