We hear a lot of government jargons like ‘Visit India’, ‘Destination India,’  ‘Make in India,’ and so on and on. But what went unnoticed was the Narendra Modi government’s initiative early this year when Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has approved 'Study in India' programme to attract foreign students to pursue higher education in India. Government has approved expenditure of Rs. 150 crores for programme for two years 2018-19 and 2019-20 which will be primarily for brand promotion activities. This was initiated because though we have many reputed institutions of international standard, the enrolment of foreign students has been very miniscule a little over 45,000 students during 2017, hardly one per cent of students studying abroad. On the other hands, data shows that more than three times this number of Indian students alone enroll in US institutions. If India has to make it big, the present enrolment of foreign students in Indian institutions needs to go up substantially.

The government initiative will provide meritorious foreign students fee waiver and scholarship. It will target students from 30 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa. Universities like Delhi University and IIT Delhi had seized this opportunity by  drastically reducing fees by nearly a third for undergraduate (UG) studies and by 96% for postgraduate studies, both for foreign students. Foreign UG students will now pay Rs 2 lakh per year instead of Rs 2.9 lakh and PG students, Rs 10,000 per year instead of almost Rs 3 lakh earlier. Some obstacles to attracting foreign students is the mediocre quality of college education on offer and a lack of information on university websites, which look like they were designed before potential students were even born. Another is the law and order situation and the nature of politics, often xenophobic, in many parts of the country.

The question here why Arunachal cannot do it. Though we don’t have institutions of international standards, the Rajiv Gandhi University and NERIST can make an attempt to at least trying to woo students from our neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, etc by offering reduced fees and better facilities for these students. It was often found that students from countries in South Asia and Africa face discrimination in places like Delhi, Bangalore, etc. That way, Arunachal will be a safer place since our students have been at receiving end in many metropolitan cities of India, RGU and NERIST can make an attempt from next academic session. But efforts should begin now.