7.5 lakh moved abroad to pursue education: Government

As many as 7.5 lakh students moved abroad to pursue education, the union ministry of education told Lok Sabha on Monday. Responding to questions from JDU MPs Lalan Singh, Dinesh Chandra Yadav and Santosh Kumar, minister of education Subhas Sarkar said that in the year 2022, 7,50,365 students went abroad.

This marks an increase of 69 per cent from 2021 when 4,44,553 students went abroad. Prior to this the highest number of students going abroad was recorded in 2019, before the pandemic, when 5,86,337 went abroad. In December last year, the government told Parliament that 6.5 lakh students had left the country by November.

Also Read — Over 30 lakh Indians went abroad during 2017-22 for higher education: Govt

The MPs asked whether the quantum of amount being spent by the Indian students abroad is higher than the education budget. In reply, Sarkar said that the government does not maintain information on the amount being spent by the Indian students on their education abroad.

“Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs maintains departure and arrival data of Indians. But there is no index for capturing the category of Indians going abroad for higher education purposes. Purpose of Indians going abroad for higher education is captured manually based either on their verbal disclosure or the type of visa of the destination country produced by them at the time of immigration clearance,” Sarkar said in his reply.

The lawmakers also asked if the government intends to come up with a high calibre educational institution to cut down this outflow, to which Sarkar replied in the negative, adding that the University Grants Commission has come up with regulations to allow foreign universities to set up

University Grants Commission has drafted enabling Regulations to facilitate establishment of campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India. The draft University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions In India) Regulations 2023 was put in the public domain for stakeholder feedback by January 18, but the last date for comments on the draft regulations has been extended till February 20 now.