Govt planning to conduct entrance exam for international students

Indian government is thinking to start a new entrance test for foreign students who want to get admission into the educational institutions in the country, even it lobbies international rating agencies to improve the ranking of its universities.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry will allow institutions which offer engineering and similar courses and other universities, including private ones to participate in the project.

S.S. Mantha, chairman of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), said, "It will start an international entrance exam for aspiring students from foreign lands." He further added, "Initially, Africa and geographies where Indian diaspora population has a good presence could be the target. Internationalisation is one of the priorities and the ministry has (had) few rounds of discussion with stakeholders," said one of the government officials mentioned above, declining to be identified. “Lobbying or engaging with international agencies is one thing but that does not mean we will not reflect on areas where we are not doing well.

All these institutes will get permission to enrol 155 more students than their permitted number of seats, as well as fill up seats that remain vacant by enrolling more foreign students.

S.S. Mantha, said, "We will allow institutions to charge foreign students double...what Indian students pay as fee."

These institutions will allow admission relaxation and fee benefits from the coming academic session that about to begin in a couple of months, the first exam will be conducted by end of the year.

The experts believe that they will be able to lure students from West, South, Southeast Asia as lower tuition fee in India compared to Europe and USA. This proposed entrance test will be similar to Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) of the USA. AICTE will conduct the test.