Over 55% drop in number of students going abroad for higher education: Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: The number of students going abroad for higher education has dropped by over 55 per cent between 2019 and 2020, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was replying to a written question in the Rajya Sabha.

"While 5,88,931 students went abroad for higher education in 2019, only 2,61,406 students had gone in 2020," Pradhan said citing the data from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Education (MoE) informed Parliament that it has been taking several steps to provide better higher education opportunities to students.

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"Research and teaching collaborations and faculty or student exchanges with high-quality foreign institutions will be facilitated, and relevant mutually beneficial MoUs with foreign countries will be signed," the minister said in the written response.

The minister further said that, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the government encourages high performing Indian universities to set up campuses in other countries, and similarly, selected universities from among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India. "A legislative framework facilitating such entry will be put in place, and such universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions of India," he said.