There has been a steady increase in the number of overseas students seeking admissions in India’s educational institutions. Saudi Arabia is among the countries from where students have been going there to join higher and specialized technical education institutions.
Inquiries at the Indian mission show that the number of student visas issued is increasing year after year. The growing number of visiting students gives credence to the fact that India is emerging as one of the favorite and preferred educational destinations in the world.
Centers of academic excellence with a well defined, recognized and regulatory system have added to the charm of ‘Destination India’ in students’ journey toward higher education and assured career. India is conscious of the importance of accessibility and hence has made its visa procedures extremely simple to facilitate education for foreign students in the country. The existence of a large number of institutions and colleges for higher and technical education that offer quality education by maintaining global standards reflects the organized nature of the educational system in India. Indian universities and institutes of higher education and research have attained global recognition by their significant contribution in research and development in areas ranging from Information Technology, biotechnology to ocean engineering. Even in traditional subjects like arts and humanities, pure sciences, applied physics and chemistry, and mathematics, Indian universities and institutes of higher studies have been playing a leading role.
India today can boast of the second largest higher education network in the world. At present there are 343 universities in India including the institutions of national importance like the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), Indian Institute Managements (IIMs) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). There are 40 agricultural universities, 36 technology institutes, 18 medical universities, 11 open universities, 7 specialized universities focusing on fine arts and languages, 5 law universities among others. Of the total number, 98 are deemed universities. There are universities focusing on journalism, social work, planning and architecture and other specialized studies. Within the system, there are over 17,000 colleges, of which 1,800 are women’s colleges.
India also excels in institutions that provide distance education to students both within the country and abroad. In fact, some of India’s reputable distance education providers have established themselves in various parts of the world.
The Indira Gandhi National Open University is one of them, which has its presence across Saudi Arabia. Some other institutions have been making efforts to offer their distance education programs to this part of the world.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) is the apex autonomous body of the government of India, providing recognition to Indian Universities. The UGC sets benchmarks and supervises overall standards, students’ intake, administrative functioning etc. of Indian Universities and also provides funds to them. Presently, there are more than 300 UGC recognized universities in India. These are categorized into Central/ State/Deemed Universities and Institutions of National Importance, with relevant yardsticks of their area of work, scope, functioning and specialization.
At the lowest rung of the Indian university system are recognized colleges, affiliated to aforementioned recognized universities.
This affiliation is important as affiliating universities, and NOT colleges are certificate-issuing bodies. Students must check such affiliation of desired colleges/courses with some recognized university in order to ensure that they would finally get degree from a recognized Indian university.
Besides the university system, there are specialized institutions, providing academic/vocational education in various fields and are recognized/run by central and/or state governments and/or their agencies. To maintain quality, especially in professional areas and in the spheres of science and technology, there are government-recognized councils. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Medical Council of India (MCI) are most prominent among these bodies, supervising standards and giving recognition to institutions and courses in the area of Engineering and Medicine respectively. There are regulatory councils in other areas also, for example. Pharmacy, Architecture, Bar Council, Teacher Education etc.
Most Indian universities teach in English Medium. For students who are weak in English, most colleges and universities conduct special language courses. India boasts of the 3rd largest English speaking population in the world. Being a multiculture, multireligious and a multilinguistic country, India follows a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of caste, creed, religion or sex. India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world, it has traditionally had very close relations to the Arab world and therefore especially students from the Arab world immediately feel at home in India.
Colleges and universities also give equal importance to needs of every community.
The Budget allocation for higher and technical education in the country is set to treble in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012). Increased allocation to the higher and technical education sector would mean more funds to revamp the university education system and lay a thrust on technical education.
Recently, in a convocation address at the Mumbai University, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of 30 world-class universities across India that would become “launch pads” for the country’s entry into the knowledge economy. Also, the HRD Ministry has plans to set up three new IITs and IIMs and over a dozen Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).
“If we need to capitalize on our latent human potential, we need a quantum leap in our approach to higher education. We need to revamp the higher education system. Our university system has to be well planned and well funded as we need a massive expansion of higher education opportunities,” the prime minister said.
