Earlier this year, in April, the Indian government launched “Study in India” scheme under which about 500 students from war-torn Syria are getting admission in government and private institutes.
The officials familiar with this development said to Hindustan Times that the scheme focuses on bringing students from countries in the south Asia, southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa to top Indian institutions, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), among others.
According to the HT report, a senior Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry official said, “This (the 2018-19 academic year) is the zero year, and even then, we have received a number of applications. Probably for the first time, so many students from Syria have applied. A few students from there have taken admission in the past but not in a systematic manner.” The number of seats on offer will increase to 22,000 for the 2019-20 academic session, with fee waivers offered on 55% of the seats.
There are in total 94 students who are studying at various levels in Indian institutions. A total of 2,275 students from Nepal, 751 students from Ethiopia and 635 students from Bangladesh, have also taken admission under the new scheme which provides 20,000 seats- as mentioned in All India Survey on Higher Education (2016-17).
This year in April, there was a meeting between the higher education minister of Syria and Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar.
Javadekar assured that there will be understanding and cooperation between India and Syria and fellowships to Syrian students will be increased over time. Even though there was no immediate comment available from the Syrian embassy, the Indian government aims at having 200,000 international students in the country, by 2023. Currently, about 45,000 foreign students study here.
Academician and former chairman of the AICTE, SS Mantha said to HT, “It is an excellent idea and it’s a huge market that India should tap. One of the key reasons students from the specific countries are keen to study in India is because of distress in their own countries. The quality in our mid-level institutes is much better than of those in their own countries… I would suggest that there should be some screening in terms of a language and subject test and India should advertise about the tests and the seats through embassies…”
With a sanctioned budget of 150 crores for 2 years, the “Study in India” scheme will certainly help Syrian students to pursue their education in a safe environment. Apart from that, numerous fee-waiver schemes for students have been announced, which includes absolute fee waivers to the top 25% meritorious applicants.