Bengaluru: Karnataka is the most preferred destination for foreign students to study, revealed a report from the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources.
The state has the highest number of 10,023 foreign students against a total of 47,427 such students from 164 countries in Indian institutions.
The 2018-19 survey was released recently and is based on information collected through AISHE portal www.aishe.gov.in.
The University Grants Commission (UGC), All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Dental and Medical Councils of India (MCI & DCI), Indian Nursing Council (INC), Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), 993 universities, 39,939 colleges and 10,725 standalone institutions across the country extended support to AISHE for the report.
Maharashtra has 5,003 foreign students, Punjab 4,553, Uttar Pradesh 4,514, Tamil Nadu 4,101, Delhi 2,141, Gujarat 2,068 and aTelangana 2,020.
The highest number of students come from Nepal contributing about 26.88 per cent of the total, followed by Afghanistan 9.8 per cent, Bangladesh 4.38 per cent, Sudan 4.02 per cent, Bhutan 3.82 per cent, Nigeria 3.4 per cent, US 3.2 per cent, Yemen 3.2 per cent, Sri Lanka 2.64 per cent and Iran 2.38 per cent.
A majority of foreign students studying in India are male. The highest number of male students come from Nepal, followed by Sudan 87.2 per cent, Yemen 90.9 per cent and Afghanistan 87.2 per cent.
Female students from US
The highest number of foreign students are enrolled for undergraduate courses that constitute 73.4 per cent of the total foreign students, followed by 16.5 per cent for post-graduate courses and 10.9 per cent for other programmes.
Highest PhDs from Ethiopia
After Nepal, 295 students from Ethiopia have enrolled for PhD programmes, followed by Yemen (149).
B.Tech, most sought after
Bachelor in Technology (B.Tech) is the most sought after subject by foreign students. More than 1,000 foreign students have enrolled for 15 popular programmes offered by various institutions across the country.
Among them, the highest number of 8,861 students have enrolled for B.Tech course, followed by BBA with 3,354 students, BSc with 3,320 students, BA having 2,226 students, BE with 2,576 students, B. Pharma with 2,498 students and BCA with 1,873 students
MBBS has highest number of girls
MBBS has 1,429 students with 58.29 per cent being female. BSc (Nursing) has 1,174 students, of which 92.16 percent are female and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) has 738 foreign students with 59.96 percent of them being girls.
