ISSN: 2347-7474 International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
International student mobility: Indian Perspective
Simranjeet Kaur Dhir*
1, Kalyanlakshmi Chitta
21Organisation: University of London
2Department of Economics, Savitribai Phule Pune University,India.
Abstract
India’s traditional knowledge system developed during the ancient period was globally acclaimed and concurrent Indian Universities like Nalanda and Takshashila attracted scholars and students from all over the world. However, the introduction of Western education during the British rule disrupted the foundations of the indigenous education system and within the altered framework; India’s role was reversed from being a provider to being a recipient, a trend that has continued into the post-independence period. The current scenario of India’s popularity as a destination reveals that there has been a steady rise in the number of international students in the post-2000 period, which has propelled India to a noticeable position on the list of popular educational destinations. However, experts point out that this rise has not been commensurate with either the scale of expansion of the domestic education system or the quantum of increase in the number of international students in general. Initiatives towards promoting India as an educational hub have been contested on grounds of shrinking resources and increasing demand for higher education within the country itself. Notwithstanding the contestations, an emerging view is that attracting foreign students to India is a beneficial proposition for reasons like promoting diversity in University campuses and enhancing accountability in service provision, along with international recognition. This paper focuses on the broad trends in student mobility into India and attempts to identify the opportunities encompassed herein.
Student mobility into India: A Historical Perspective
The phenomenon of student mobility andglobal academic exchange is not a recent one in the Indian context. India is renowned as one of the oldest civilisations in the world and the country’s ancient knowledge system has received attention and recognition at the global stage.
Renowned scientist Albert Einstein has referred to the contribution of the Indian traditional knowledge system in the following words, "we owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made". Evidence to this is also provided by the fact that as early as in the 7th century
BC, Takshashila (known as Takshila today), one of India’s oldest and most celebrated centres of learning attracted around 10,500 students from across the globe enrolled in over 60 disciplines including logic, law and grammar, philosophy, religion, medicine, literature, drama and arts, astrology,
mathematics and sociology [1]. Similarly, Nalanda University, whose establishment dates back to the 4th century B.C. and which is considered a landmark in the evolution of the global knowledge system, also attracted students and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Tibet, Persia and other parts of the globe (Ibid). While some of these established centers of learning continued their work during the medieval period, some famous centers of Islamic learning like Delhi, Lahore (now in Pakistan), Rampur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Jaunpur, Ajmer and Bidar also attracted scholars and students from other countries [2].
education suffered a fatal setback [3]. This also meant that there was a reversal in India’s role on the international educational scenario, from being a provider to being a recipient [4], a trend that has continued into the post-independence period as well. This is evident from the fact that India, today ranks second on the list of source countries for international students with an estimated 2 lakh students from the country travelling abroad to pursue higher education in 2011 [5].
It is estimated that approximately 3 Lakh students are travelling from India (2015). On the question of India’s role as a provider it may be noted that India does feature in the list of destinations for international students though India’s position in the list is not very impressive. Before turning to a discussion of the trends in student mobility into India, it may be first useful to place the phrase ‘international students’ within a definite conceptual framework.
International Students’ Defined in
the Indian Context
Powar & Bhalla [6] point out that there has been general confusion in India regarding the number of international students studying in the country with considerable variation in the numbers quoted by different organisations, which may be attributed to the varied interpretations of the term ‘international students’. It may be pertinent to note here that there is no consensus even among international agencies compiling data on student mobility across borders. For instance, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics has defined international students as “those who have crossed a national or territorial border for the purpose of education and are now enrolled outside their country of origin”[7].
It needs to be noted here that the UNESCO definition includes only those students who are enrolled in courses and programs of more than one year duration. Another important source of information on international student mobility, the Institute of International Education (IIE) does not apply the one year criteria in its data compilation and considers any student studying on a temporary visa that allows
academic course work to be undertaken, as an international student. In the Indian context, the Ministry of HRD, Government of India regards every student entering the country on a student visa as an international student irrespective of the program of study or its duration. The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) follows the UNESCO definition while the UGC has adopted the IIE version.
Accordingly, the AIU lists only those students enrolled with Indian Universities and colleges for post -higher secondary programs of more than one year duration as international students in its database and leaves out students registered for short duration certificate or diploma programs in subjects like English language or computer training. The AIU also leaves out students entering India under ‘Study India’ programs and also students registered for academic courses offered by Indian open Universities who are residing outside India from its data compilation. In accordance with the IIE definition, the UGC includes even those categories of students who are not covered by the AIU in its database.
Trends in International Student
Mobility into India
Databases of the UGC and AIU reveal that the number of international students coming to India registered a steady rise till the mid-1990s to stand at around 13,000 after which it witnessed a sharp decline by almost 50% in 1996-97 and remained stagnant till the end of the decade. The trends witnessed a reversal thereafter, once again rising steadily to 21,206 in 2007-08 and stood at around 30,000 in 2012.In the year 2015-16; around 42,420 international students have enrolled themselves in Indian Universities and Colleges.
This, considered alongside the information that the number of international students travelling abroad for higher studies stood at 4.3 million in 2011, the presence of international students in India is rather insignificant.
On the question of “sending” countries, it can be observed that there has been a steady rise in the number of countries from which students have travelled to India for higher education from around 90 in 1988-89 to over 125 in 2013. The country profiles include developed countries like the US, Canada, Australia and also European countries which apart from being technologically advanced and economically strong, also have good educational facilities as also from developing countries from Africa, West Asia and South East Asia that have limited educational infrastructure.
Table 1 (at the end of the paper) presents information on the number of international students in absolute terms for some select years during the post-2000 period.
Powar & Bhalla [6] have highlighted an important issue in this context that information on international student enrolments in India compiled by both the AIU and the UGC suffers from roughly 10-15% under-reporting since a large number of Universities (including the established ones)are found to ignore requests for information on international students enrolled with them [11]. This is perhaps indicative of the lackadaisical approach of Indian universities, particularly the public universities towards the question of international students as also the general confusion prevailing among policy-makers and institutions about the importance of having them on board.
Should
International
Student
Mobility into India be Encouraged?
Debates over the impact of cross-border education in any form on indigenous knowledge and cultural diversity often provoke strong positions and sentiments. On the positive front it is argued that modern information and communication technologies and the movement of people, ideas, and culture across national boundaries promotes the fusion and hybridization of cultures.Others contend that the same forces are eroding national cultural identities and leading to cultural homogenization, most often in the form of Westernization. And still others speculate that cross-border mobility of students, providers and programs will only increase cultural tensions within host institutions and countries. Therefore, the issue of international student mobility is marked by a great deal of controversy.
A crucial question specific to international student mobility in the Indian context is whether its promotion is desirable from the viewpoint of national education policy. This question assumes significance in view of the demand-supply gap in institutional capacity within the domestic education system which poses as a constraint on expansion of educational opportunities for local students.
On this background, critics of
internationalization of higher education strongly argue that education policy in India should focus on national priorities and have questioned the rationality of determining quotas for international students in premier institutions like the National Institutes of Technology (NITs). Notwithstanding the validity of these arguments, an emerging view in this respect is that international students make a significant contribution to academic, social and economic premises of a nation and to that extent should be encouraged. Some of the benefits arising from the presence of international students on local campuses may be summarized as follows:
Firstly, since international students bring in a cross-cultural perspective on issues of common academic concern, they constitute an important resource for host nations. As Altbach [12] points out, international students are “one of the most important elements of the international knowledge system; they are the carriers of knowledge across borders; they are the embodiment of cosmopolitan cultures and are one of the most visible and important parts of the worldwide exchange of knowledge”.
and socio-economic realities. In the immediate analysis the presence of international students contributes to further strengthening academic ties between the sending and receiving nations as their positive feedback on their learning and living experience serves as the most effective endorsement of the host nation’s education system and helps project the nation as a suitable destination for future aspirants. However, it may be useful to note that the spillover effect of these academic interactions may be far more extensive in that it contributes to building the right image of the nation as a whole and fosters appreciation of the nation’s policies and practices in the rest of the world.
As pointed out by Powar [13], the good political relations that India shares with African countries may be attributed to a considerable extent to the fact that many influential African leaders were educated in India. The educational support given by India generated enormous goodwill for the country among African leaders. Similarly, the influence India has exerted in Afghanistan in the post-2004 period is in no small measure due to the fact that former President Hamid Karzai was educated in India [14].
Powar further notes that promoting better
understanding amongst the SAARC
countries is one of the reasons behind the establishment of the South Asian University in New Delhi. In sum, since there is growing recognition that education serves as an effective medium for dissemination of culture and values, international students can potentially spread goodwill for India in their home countries and help in developing an understanding and better appreciation of Indian culture abroad. Indeed as pointed out by Rajkhowa [15], while the economic contribution of international students to a nation’s economy can be monetized, what is equally, if not more importantly and yet not easily quantifiable is the intangible benefits through soft diplomacy, relationship building, human capital resources, etc. that international students help build between nations [16].
Thirdly, as the influence of the forces of globalization extend to various sectors of the
economy; a nation’s success in the international political economy critically depends on its interaction with the rest of the world at various levels, of which exchange of knowledge and ideas is an important component. The recognition of the importance of this academic co-operation may be seen as the motivation for Western countries to take measures towards faculty and student exchange like the European Union’s Arasmas Mundas programme. However, in case of low income countries like India where resource constraints do not permit institutionalized measures towards sending local students abroad, attracting international students to its campuses may provide this much-needed international exposure. This is because the presence of a large number of international students on
campuses fosters a cosmopolitan
environment and helps create greater awareness among local students about global issues.
This in turn better prepares them to participate and engage more effectively in an increasingly competitive global economy. This may also enhance the employability of local graduates in the international labor market and thereby enable them to benefit from the ever-expanding activities of multinational corporations.
Fourthly, the international dimension of a University has been identified as an important parameter in academic ranking of world Universities. For instance, the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World academic Rankings considers international faculty ratio and international student ratio as important constituents of its ranking criteria with a weight age of 5% each. According to Powar [13], one of the reasons for Indian Universities not featuring in the top 200 Universities in world rankings is their poor record as regards International students and international academic co-operation.
Therefore, attracting international students to local campuses may provide an opportunity for Universities in India to improve their relative position in academic rankings. In sum, the presence of international students on Indian campuses can effect stimulation of the academic, research and overall environment in the domestic education sector which in turn can propel India’s visibility on the global academic, social, political and cultural scene in the long term.
Fifthly, international students contribute to revenue-generation in direct and indirect ways. Since host institutions are permitted to charge differential fees from international students (which is typically higher than the fees charged from local students), they are able to generate additional revenue for developmental purposes. This is particularly important for Indian institutions in the wake of shrinking public expenditure on higher education. Besides, international students also contribute by way of purchasing local goods and services during their stay in the country. This possibility has been highlighted by the figures put forth by the US Government that has estimated an annual gain of $24 billion due to international student enrolments. The importance of higher education as a revenue source while succinctly stating: “Cross-border higher education in New Zealand generates more earnings than the export of wine; in Canada more than lumber and coal; and in United States more that automotive and financial services ... For Australia it is the fourth export product after coal, iron and recently gold”. Therefore, India needs to attract international students to its University campuses to give a boost to local business, besides its academic environment.
Sixthly, there is increasing consensus that if India has to emerge as a force-to-reckon-with on the international scene it must acquire pre-eminence in the field of education. India cannot compete with the developed world on the military front and in spite of India’s rapidly expanding economy; India is not an economic power either. Similarly, despite the presence of a sizable educated and skilled middle class all social indicators show that India has a long way to go before she can be ranked among
developed countries. India’s rather poor standing on the human development front with an HDI value of 0.609 and a rank of 130 in 2015 reveals that India has not been able to make much noteworthy progress on the human development consideration either. In this scenario, it may be pertinent to note that the field in which India can gain pre-eminence and be seen as a significant global actor is the development of human resource.
This is evident from the remarkable strides India has made in the area of space technology where the country is considered to be in the same league as some of the most advanced countries in the world including the US and France . The augmentation of India’s research capabilities require academic collaborations and intellectual and material resources. The entry of international students can help achieve this end through their expertise and intellectual and material contributions. International students in Indian higher education institutions will enhance the diversity of Indian campuses and over the years international students would help enhance India’s visibility and presence on the world social cultural and education space,
notwithstanding the tremendous
opportunity for soft diplomacy that goes with overseas students returning home from India.
Conclusion
The above discussion brings out that though arguments against promoting international student mobility into India on grounds of the gap between demand and supply of institutional capacity for local students are not entirely baseless, the case for promoting it also quite strong. Specifically, the contribution that international students make to enhancing diversity on campus and bringing in a global perspective in classroom discussions can have a significant spillover effect on quality of service provision.
counterparts develop a more profound understanding of issues of common concern and foster better appreciation of globally relevant issues. Besides, the possibility of charging differential fees from international students offers an opportunity for Indian institutions to generate revenue to supplement shrinking public funding. Apart from this direct benefit to the host institution, the presence of international students also contributes to the economy in general through the living costs they incur
during their stay in the country. On this background, it may be argued that the presence of international students in Indian institutions is likely to have an effect that is more positive than negative for the Indian cause. Therefore, there is a strong need to put an institutionalized mechanism in place to promote student mobility into India through appropriate changes in policies at
the Governmental, regulatory and
institutional levels [17,18].
Table 1: International students in India during some selected years in the post-2000 period.
Year Number of international students
2003-04 7,589
2004-05 13,267
2005-06 14,493
2006-07 18,594
2008-09 21,778
2011-12 33,151
2015-16 42,420
Source: Association of Indian Universities (AIU); Ministryy of HRD, Department of Higher Education 2014, All-India Survey of Higher Education
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