Opinion Why India must offer student work visas

This will attract foreign students, which will truly internationalise the Indian classroom

National Education Policy, NEP 2020, higher education, education sector, university education, standards of Indian universities, indian students, foreign students, foreign universities, Indian classrooms,

An expanded provision of student work visas will amplify these advantages.

Sifra Lentin

October 26, 2023 09:51 AM IST First published on: Oct 26, 2023 at 07:54 AM IST

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has made internationalisation a pivot for reforms of the country’s higher education sector. This new paradigm aims to raise the standards of Indian university education in key parameters — an overhaul of syllabi, campuses with foreign students, foreign faculty, researchers, and joint and/or dual degrees conferred by Indian universities and colleges with their foreign counterparts.

India has 54,000 colleges and institutions which cater to 38.5 million college-level students. They are of mixed quality and not enough. About 7.5 lakh Indian students study abroad annually. The market need has led to a blossoming of private universities. Some have been able to attract international faculty, but the big gap is in attracting foreign students.

Foreign students can study in Indian universities but there is no provision for them to gain work experience in India after completing their degrees — which many foreign students seek, given India’s vibrant corporate and start-up sector. Correcting this requires an amendment to India’s student or “S” Visa.

Many Indian companies are international and aspire to be multinationals. Most major Indian players overseas are tech and services companies, and their key resource is talent. They need foreign employees with experience in India to better understand the country’s and company’s culture and etiquette, and learn how to navigate Indian regulations and markets. Through recruitment of foreign talent on Indian campuses and hiring alumni from Indian institutions who return to their home countries, Indian companies can develop an ecosystem of overseas talent that is acclimated to working in India. They will be the “cultural bridge” between their country and India. Indian alumni of US universities have been critical in bringing Silicon Valley and Bengaluru together, and in helping the US administration understand India’s viewpoints on varied subjects. The big three US tech companies — Google, Meta, and Microsoft — are all headed by Indian alumni of US universities. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who studied in India kept bilateral relations warm through difficult times.

An expanded provision of student work visas will amplify these advantages. It must include the 4,000 scholarships for foreigners who come to India annually under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, and Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation scholarships for students and professionals from developing and less developed countries. African students who study at the Indian Institute of Mining, Dhanbad, or agriculture colleges, will benefit from field experience in India. India has 49,000 foreign students. The Ministry of Education’s goal was to reach 2,00,000 students in 2023-24. This is not likely to fructify.

There is a worry that foreign students will take over the jobs of Indian students. This is not the case. India’s population growth has dipped below the replacement rate of 2.1 per cent, and the country will begin ageing soon, like China, according to the UN Population Fund. The number of the elderly will double from 149 million in 2022 to 347 million in 2050, eventually overtaking the youth.

This has serious ramifications. Growth cannot be sustained with a dwindling working population — as is being witnessed by Japan, Germany, and China. The US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and, Canada have offset this by offering post-study student work visas. European nations, in contrast, have chosen the route of migration to make up for the worker deficit and this is finding implications in the politics of these nations. India can learn from these experiences. It can offer work status, which may not extend to a resident visa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has designated higher education as one of the champion export sectors being promoted overseas. Elite Indian institutions like the IIMs and IITs have already expanded abroad, most recently in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where IIT Chennai has begun full degree classes. Private universities like Manipal have long had foreign campuses in the Caribbean and Malaysia, and now newer ones like Sharda and Amity have established campuses in Uzbekistan.

With the world in geopolitical turmoil and the dream of Western education no longer a certainty, it’s time a concerted effort is made to amend India’s student visa regime. It starts with a notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) permitting paid employment under the “S” category visa. The Ministry of Finance will need to determine the applicability of India’s tax laws and double taxation treaties on income earned by foreign students. The Ministry of Education, through the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education, will need to pass guidelines for on-campus recruitment of foreigners and the role of the international students’ department in coordinating with MHA, employers, and students. Finally, Indian multinational companies must advocate for a change in the student visa directly and through business chambers.

The writer is Bombay History Fellow, Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations