Study in India falls short on visa issues, curricula; NITI Aayog sets 5 lakh foreign students target for 2047

Noting that the ministry of education’s Study in India (SII) programme has failed to meet its target of hosting two lakh international students by 2023, a report by the government think-tank Niti Aayog identifies “visa and regulatory bottlenecks”, “infrastructure gaps”, “inflexible curricula”, “scholarship and delivery gaps” as reasons for Indian institutions failing to draw international students.

Niti Aayog recommends that in order to attract international students, the government eases regulation of inbound and outbound mobility, expands NIRF ranking to include internationalisation metrics, establishes scholarships and revamps global talent attraction programmes.

The report, titled “Internationalisation of Higher Education in India”, was released on Monday. It also highlights that in 2021-22, Karnataka had the highest number of international students at 5,954 followed by Punjab at 5,847.

Start Study in India 2.0: NITI Aayog

The Study in India programme was launched by the ministry in 2018, as an initiative to strengthen India’s inbound student mobility with an aim to be an attractive alternative to traditional study-abroad destinations particularly for students from the global south.

“However, despite early progress, the SII initiative has not met its target of hosting 2,00,000 international students by 2023. Creating SII 2.0 with comprehensive branding, communication, and outreach strategies would be essential to attract international students to India,” stated the report.

Under the SII programme, Niti Aayog recommends focussing on supporting short-term academic exchanges that allow international students to study in India for part of their degree, or Indian students to spend a limited period abroad. This form of mobility can play a vital role in fostering international collaborations.

As per the report, the momentum of international students coming to India picked up 2012-13 onwards, with enrolment jumping to 34,774 students and then steadily increasing year-on-year. Between 2012 and 2019, India experienced a 42% increase of inbound international students peaking at 49,348 in 2019-20.

“This growth phase can be attributed to a mix of pull factors, including affordable tuition, a wide range of English-medium programmes, government-led scholarship schemes and quality of education at leading Indian HEIs. India’s long standing educational and cultural ties with South Asia and parts of Africa also contributed to sustained flows,” the report stated.

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The period 2020-22 witnessed stagnation and mild decline due to the global COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on student mobility. Numbers dipped to 48,035 in 2020-21 and 46,878 in 2021-22, a reversal from the pre-pandemic high.

The report states that the core objective of SII should be to increase international student enrolment, with an ambitious milestone of 5,00,000 students by 2047.

Barriers: Visa, regulatory bottlenecks

The report highlights various structural and systemic barriers in India’s ability to attract and retain international students.

These are as follows:

Infrastructure gaps: Under 15% Indian institutions meet global standards for compass “Even basic needs such as visa support, grievance redressal, and access to banking remain underdeveloped,” says the report.

Visa and regulatory bottlenecks: “Complex” visa processes and the time needed for them are “significant deterrants”. According to NITI Aayog, “the lack of a fasttrack academic visa category undermines India’s appeal.”

Insufficient student support: Under 10% of institutions surveyed provide guidance or have dedicated services for international students.

‘Rigid’ curriculum: India’s curricular structures are not aligned with international trends and tend to be “rigid” with few interdisciplinary programmes.

Scholarships and delivery gaps: Although scholarships are advertised, students reported unclear eligibility criteria, non-transparent selection, and delays in receiving fee waivers.

Weak global visibility and outreach: Indian institutions are underrepresented abroad due to “inadequate branding”, limited participation in global education fairs and underutilised alumni networks.

Weak strategic and diplomatic alignment: In contrast to global initiatives by countries like Australia (New Colombo Plan), or the UK (Erasmus Model), India has not integrated SII into broader foreign policy, trade negotiations, or regional development strategies.

Limited stakeholder collaboration: Public-private partnerships especially in areas such as international promotion, visa logistics, student onboarding, and infrastructure development – remain underutilised.

The report also highlights the importance of increasing institutional endowments supported by alumni and private donors but however, lists the problems faced by institutions.

“The regulatory framework in India is not yet fully conducive to encouraging and facilitating endowment growth in the higher education sector with lack of clear guidelines on deployment of funds and utilisation of income. HEIs struggle with raising significant endowment funds due to a lack of an established culture of alumni donations or low financial capacity among alumni. Institutions face difficulty in sustaining endowment funds due to absence of professional fund management systems. There is a lack of defined mechanisms to generate income and reinvest it in alignment with internationalisation priorities,” the report added.

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NITI Aayog for ease of regulation, curriculum innovation

The body has provided 22 recommendations under five domains to improve internationalisation:

• Strategy

• Regulation

• Finance

• Branding, Communication and Outreach

• Curriculum and Culture

As part of the strategy it recommends establishing an “inter-ministerial task force” with ministries of education, external affairs, home affairs, science and technology, skill development and entrepreneurship and finance to develop a strategy and oversee its implementation.

It also suggests creating a “Unified International Degree Equivalence System” and setting up country “centres of excellence” in central universities to serve as host institutions.

“Develop regional higher education hubs focused on Science, Engineering, Arts, Maths, Management, Medicine (STEAM 3) sectors through an ecosystem approach involving universities, industry, government, and civil society. These hubs should serve as education-led regional innovation ecosystems through structured collaboration among universities, industry, R&D labs, local governments, and society. Replicate the GIFT City approach by creating global higher education, research and innovation hubs based on strengths of state/regional ecosystems,” it added.

Apart from easing norms for students, Niti Aayog suggests improving regulatory transparency for teaching partnerships.

“Attracting high-caliber international faculty and researchers remains a challenge for Indian universities, primarily due to relatively lower salary packages and unclear tax frameworks. In contrast, multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations offer taxfree salaries, making them highly competitive in recruiting global talent. To enhance the global academic profile of Indian institutions, there is a need to create a more enabling environment both financially and administratively,” it added.

It harps on simplified visa regimes and clear post-study work pathways for attracting and retaining international students.

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Beyond Top 500: NITI Aayog for evaluation

The other NITI Aayog recommendation is about broadening the institutional eligibility criteria and facilitating the evaluation of institutions that may not appear in the Top 500 Global Rankings.

“Establish integrated or co-located campuses within Indian public and private HEIs with a brownfield investment approach governed by a 10-year sunset clause and commercial rent-based models to ensure sustainability. Thereafter, the institution may be mandated to have its own greenfield campus,” it added.

Apart from establishing a National Research Sovereign Wealth Impact Fund – Bharat Vidya Kosh, it also recommends launching a prestigious scholarship programme ‘Vishwa Bandhu Scholarship’ for international students for two-year master’s programmes modeled after global benchmarks.

It also stresses on promoting curricular reforms in leading Indian HEIs to embed interdisciplinary coursework, reflective and communication skills, and international academic standards across programmes.