India to Track Foreign Students From 2013

Bangalore: India will track all overseas students coming to the country from April 2013. They will keep a tab on the foreign students and their academic performance through the universities where they will study, following models used by the U.S. and UK. Universities that want to admit foreign students will have to register with the new home ministry system- to be called the Foreign Student Information System (FSIS) and will require providing regular updates on these students, as reported by Charu Sudan Kasturi for Hindustan Times.

This move is intended at balancing India's drive to attract more international students to its universities with security concerns. India witnesses around 25,000 international students coming in every year for higher studies. Most students come from Iran, Ethiopia, Nepal, Afghanistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

A senior government official said “We’re just doing what the world does. It’s about balancing the promotion of our education system with security needs,” reported by HT.

Over the past few years under an initiative led by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), India has tried to market its soft power through its universities, cheaper than western counterparts and providing better quality than varsities in most developing countries.

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