siliconindia | | September 20199India is perceived as a great option for higher education and hence attracts many overseas students to come here and take graduate and postgraduate programs in the sciences or IT(information technology). It might sound like a cliché but the fact remains. The world over, in the most respected and largest corporations, there are scores of Indians who are in key roles when it concerns engineering and infor-mation technology. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of tech giant Google is just one such name that immediately comes to mind. This phenomenon has come about largely because of the robust education base in India specifically with regard to engineering and IT, spearheaded by remark-able institutions such as the IITs. Technology, sciences, and engineering streams have been a strong-suit of many indigenous institutions for decades together, and it is a reputation that precedes itself, not unknown to potential foreign national students seeking higher education. India therefore is perceived as a great option for higher edu-cation in these particular areas of education, and hence attracts many overseas students to come here and take graduate and postgraduate programs in sciences or IT.FOCUS ON RESEARCHIf there is one facet of higher education that the West is known for, placing immense emphasis on is Research. Almost every well-regarded university abroad has ro-bust ethos and generous investment in Research. This is one area where Indian universities and colleges need to up their game. If this is done, and each academic de-partment of a university develops an industry-sector-related research arm that employs current infrastruc-ture, know-how, and work that could positively impact real-world problems, Indian higher education would have addressed the one arguably lacking stream of the educational ecosystem.MARKETING PUSHLike we see with colleges and universities from abroad, be they from the Americas, Europe, the UK, or further East; Indian universities too must make a concerted ef-fort to organize/participate in education fairs, events, where students from the world over can be made aware of them, courses on offer, relatively low fee structure and so on. Without this massive PR push, a lot of what is on offer will remain in the dark, and potentially thousands of students will not even consider the country for sheer lack of awareness.ENVIRONMENTFinally, as a country, government would do well to engage in a sustained and relentless campaign that makes the country attractive to foreign nationals, starting with allay-ing many fears associated with India, safety, security and moving the focus then to the more enticing facets of In-dia ­ history, travel, diversity, hospitality. This, combined with ease of visa and other documentation to visit, stay and study in India, will provide a final and much needed impetus to potential students, making it hard to then ig-nore the country as a viable higher education option. A vibrant mix of Government as well as Private Uni-versities, over seventy in fact, offer great higher education opportunities to overseas students. These universities and colleges, including Delhi University, Calcutta University, the IITs, also regularly feature on various lists and sur-veys of global higher education institutions, further in-stilling confidence in the foreign student community. If all stakeholders now build on this established infrastructure and reputation by taking a few more measures such as the ones outlined above, there is no doubt in India emerging at the forefront of global higher education. Kartik Bajoria
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