National survey reveals maximum number of foreign students are in the State

Karnataka had the maximum number of international students across India in the 2016–17 academic year. With 13,050 foreign nationals enrolled in colleges, the State accounts for 27.4% of all international students in India, which stands at 47,575. This was revealed in the All-India Survey on Higher Education 2017, the findings of which were released on Friday by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Education officials attribute this to the efficacy of the Overseas Centre for Foreign Students (OCFS) under the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), which insists on the appointment of nodal officers in all universities in Karnataka to address the grievances of foreign students.

There has been, however, a decline in the number of international students in Karnataka when compared with the academic year 2015–16, when the number was 14,348.

India had an intake from 162 countries in the 2016–17 academic year. The majority were from Nepal, which accounted for 23.6% of the international students. Afghanistan (9.3%) was a far second followed by Bhutan (4.8%).

Nearly 77% of international students had enrolled in undergraduate courses.

Almost at all levels of courses, male students are more in number except for certificate courses. After Karnataka, Tamil Nadu (4,889), Maharashtra (4,619), and Uttar Pradesh (3,602) had the highest number of foreign students.

As many as 16 programmes had more than 1,000 foreign students which accounted for 81% of the total foreign students. The majority — 6,818 students — were enrolled for B.Tech programmes. This is followed by BBA and B.A. courses.

In the 2016–2017 academic year, Karnataka had 39,998 nursing students, the second highest in the country. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of students with 49,233.

Bengaluru has the most number of colleges

Bengaluru district, which has 1,025 colleges, has the maximum number of colleges in the country. Karnataka is among the eight States with high number of colleges. Across the country, the top 50 districts have 33.5% of the colleges in the country.