BENGALURU: The number of foreign students coming to India increased by 50% in 2015 compared with 2014, according to Union home ministry statistics. While the number of French students more than tripled (214% increase), the number of those from Germany and Japan increased 124% and 123%, respectively.As many as 66,885 foreign students came to India in 2015, up from 44,620 in 2014. Traditional incomers from Bangladesh and Afghanistan posted a high increase - 670% and 112%. The two countries accounted for 11,000 students. The number of students from the UK increased by only 1.8%, while of those from the US dipped by 12%. The number of Chinese students increased by 123% and of South Korean students by 43%."This is an indication that at least some of our institutions are of global standards," said Professor Anup Lal, sociology and industrial relations department, St Joseph's College of Arts and Science. He said there was, however, concern that most of the foreign students come to India for UG courses and did not continue to pursue research. Also, the latest numbers are no match for those from 2013, when India saw 93,693 such students.Experts like Prof S Sadagopan, IIIT-Bangalore founder-director, have argued that India needs to understand the soft power that higher education can fetch and the need to attract foreign students, especially at master's and PhD levels.Former Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan has said that it is not just enough to attract foreign students and the larger goal must be to engage in a partnership with global institutes. The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for example, just like some other top institutes like the IIMs and IITs, has an exclusive cell dealing with such matters.The International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, a centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, is another example of an institute working on international projects - many of their faculty and students are already part of the LIGO project that detected gravitational waves last week.Experts said the increase in students coming from developed countries such as France and Germany, where many Indian students opt to go for studies, is a good sign.