In a bid to attract more international talent, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for the first time are planning hold their entrance tests in Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member nations next year to select foreign students for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
At recent a meeting between officials of the human resource development (HRD) ministry and the external affairs ministry (MEA), eight countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (all SAARC member nations), Ethiopia in Africa, Singapore and Dubai (UAE) have been zeroed in on for holding entrance tests for foreign nationals from next year onwards.
“The entrance tests to the IITs abroad have been held till now only to admit Indian nationals. This is for the first time that it has been planned to admit foreign students through tests held abroad. It is aimed that the plan would be operationalized from the JEE/GATE exams to be conducted in 2017,” a senior HRD ministry official said.
The students will be selected through a common entrance exam which would be administered by the IIT with the help of Indian missions in these countries. Officials, however, added that seats to be offered to foreign nationals would be supernumerary or additional in nature and would not reduce those available to Indian nationals at the 18 IITs.
The fee applicable in the case of foreign students will also be more as the subsidized fee which Indians pay would not be applicable to them. To facilitate these foreign students, the MEA will consider giving them research visa for the duration of the programme rather than one year at a time, people familiar with the matter said.
While the test is to be held in 2017, the outreach programme for the exercise would begin from August this year and will be conducted in all these eight countries. IIT, Mumbai, has been asked to prepare the necessary information material for this outreach. It would include details of the tests, the courses and frequently asked questions.
A web portal may be created for this purpose, people familiar with the matter said.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations will be the nodal agency on behalf of the MEA for these tests. Earlier, the IIT, Mumbai, director had prepared a report on comprehensive system to attract international students to the institutes.
After the report was prepared, the director was asked to prepare a detailed plan for conducting JEE and GATE exams abroad. It is learnt that the government is keen on more foreign students studying at IITs as it could boost their international academic rankings.