Internalization of Education

in India
Introduction and Meaning
• Internalization of education can be defined as the integration of
higher education with an international perspective.
• With the motive of internalizing the Indian higher education
system, the government along with the universities is striving
hard to attract foreign students and researchers.
Why internationalize the education in
India?
• The demand for higher education in India is significantly rising
owing to developing information technology and upcoming
job challenges.
• As per the UNESCO report, it has been estimated that the need
for higher education will increase from around 1.8 million in
2005 to 7.2 million in 2025 at the global level.
• On the other hand, the ability of the traditional Indian higher
educational institutes to cope up with the increasing demand
for higher education is highly questionable in the modern
period.
• As such, it becomes utmost important to internationalize the
education in India.
Government initiatives to promote
internalization.
• In the year 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Department
of India launched the “Study in India” website with the motive
of making international students access the Indian universities.
• Also, a plethora of fee waivers and scholarships were
introduced for students of some selected countries.
• The government also eased the bureaucratic processes
associated with the hiring of international faculty in the Indian
universities.
Foreign student enrolment in
Indian Universities
Issues that might arise
• Internalization of higher education would result in an export of
students to foreign universities which can result in brain-drain.
• Apart from this, even the reputed Indian universities (like the
JNU in Delhi and IISc in Bengaluru) are not ranked among the
top 50 global universities. As such, foreign students are less
attractive towards them.
• Higher education market in India offers significant investment
opportunities to reputed foreign universities who opts for profit
maximization and therefore could compromise with the
education quality.
Outlook and way forward
• The Indian higher education system needs significant
improvement if it really wants to compete at the international
level.
• Indian universities are required to collaborate and integrate
with international universities for their research activities.
• It is utmost necessary for some of the reputed Indian
universities to rank themselves among the top 50 international
universities. If this happens, foreign students would take note
of it and might consider getting themselves enrolled in the
Indian universities
• Although, there are various schemes and incentives for foreign
students, the government still needs to implement smart
strategies in order to attract international students and faculty.
Thank You
-Saurabh Aggarwal