University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman, Jagadesh Kumar has said that universities and higher education institutions across the country will now be allowed to create up to 25% supernumerary seats for foreign students in their undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes,
According to the official statement, the supernumerary seats will be created over and above the total sanctioned strength and the decision regarding these seats will be taken by concerned higher educational institutions (HEIs) according to specific guidelines and regulations issued by the regulatory bodies considering the infrastructure, faculty and other requirements. The statement added that there will be no entrance tests for these admissions.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the UGC held last week to discuss internationalisation of UG and PG programmes in India.
Further the statement mentioned that the supernumerary seats for international students will not include the international students under exchange programmes and through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between institutions or between Indian government and other countries.
Meanwhile, the HEIs will also be permitted to admit international students using a transparent admission process as is done by the foreign universities and that these students do not have to go through the entrance process used for admissions in India.
“The seats shall be exclusively meant for the international students both in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. A seat remained unfilled in the supernumerary category, shall not be allocated to anyone other than an international student. International students in this context shall be defined as the one who shall possess a foreign passport,” Kumar explained.
The commission has decided that the provision of creating supernumerary seats for international students should be formalised by way of approval of statutory body of the HEIs in accordance with the guidelines and regulations issued by the regulatory bodies from time to time.
“The supernumerary seats in professional and technical institutes shall be governed by the respective statutory bodies. All details regarding the number of seats available for international students in each programme, fee prescribed for the same, admission process, eligibility conditions etc. shall be made available on the website of the HEI,” he said.
With inputs from PTI
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