German varsities gaining popularity among Indian students, numbers show

 While the US, the UK and other countries are the more popular destinations for higher studies among Indian students, the factor that works in favour of Germany is that most institutions, while offering high quality education, charge no tuition fees, said Chandrika, a representative of the India office of the University of Goettingen.

“Most of the top universities in Germany are all state-owned and are highly reputed. One only has to take care of the food and lodging, for which there are scholarships offered by various funding agencies,” added Chandrika.    

The Higher Education and Research Fair, part of the ‘DWIH (German House for Research and Innovation): Art meets Science’ Exhibition began here on Saturday, with a large number of students thronging the fair. As many as 11 institutions, including universities and funding organisations, took part.

Final-year MSc (Physics) students, Mansi Ramdas and Pooja Jaiswal, were busy inquiring about future prospects at the Juelich University’s stall. “Most of our classmates want to study abroad as there seems to be a perception that the quality of education is better abroad. Germany looks like a good option due to many factors. However, I would like to get more information about this,” said Mansi.

Vishal Khanna, a representative of the university at the stall, said, “In countries like the UK and the US, the fees are extremely high and adding to that is the exorbitant cost of lodging and food. German universities are a good bet when we put together all these factors,” he said.

Karnataka, in particular, has a special relation with the state of Bavaria, with an MoU on collaboration in areas like trade, commerce and technology spanning nearly a decade. It is no wonder that each year the number of Indian students coming to this German state is rising, according to Sabitha Lorenz, Head of Science Office, Bavarian-Indian Centre for Business and University Cooperation in Bengaluru.

Numbers increasing
“Rough figures put the number of Indian students in Bavaria at 1,400. The number has been going up every year, especially since the MoU was signed between Karnataka and Bavaria,” she said.

Along with the education fair, a photo exhibition showcasing Indo-German cooperation was also organised. Over 1500 students visited the fair by 2 pm on Saturday, according to Dr Alexander P Hansen, Chairman of the Board of DWIH, New Delhi. The fair will go on till Sunday.