The data collected in September 2016 shows that there were only 30,423 international students across all universities and higher educational institutions in the country, as compared to 31,126 international students reported a year earlier.
India attracted around 30,000 international students in the year 2015-16, which is a mere 0.61 percent of the global figure, reveals a report by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
AIU, which is a body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, conducted the survey across universities in the country for the intake of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years. From the data collected in the year 2016, they found that the number of international students in India across various higher education institutions in that year was 30,423.
"Going by the policy framework that enables universities and colleges to admit foreign/NRI students to up to 15 per cent of their sanctioned intake, India should have been having about 4.85 million foreign/NRI students studying in the country's campuses," the report said.
"As against this vast potential, the number of international students in the country has been only in the thousands," it added.
The data collected in September 2016 shows that there were only 30,423 international students across all universities and higher educational institutions in the country, as compared to 31,126 international students reported a year earlier.
The study also adds that the numbers have increased from a mere 7,791 in the year 2000 to 30,000-plus at present.
One of the main reasons that students are not coming to India as much as they should, according to universities, is the lack of proper infrastructure for them and safety issues.
"If a student is coming to India, we have to make sure that they are safe and their living arrangements are well taken care of. But given the image that many people have of Indian cities, students avoid our universities as an option," said an official from the foreign registry desk at Delhi University.
Globally, the most number of international students are still choosing the US, UK and other European countries as options.
AIU, however, said that they have been trying to sensitise universities about international students so that the numbers can be increased.
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