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To woo students from US & Europe, Modi govt to start yoga, Sanskrit courses in universities

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The courses, which are a part of the HRD Ministry’s ‘Study in India’ programme, are likely to be of 4-6 week duration.

New Delhi: The Modi government is looking at launching short-term courses in yoga, Indian culture and heritage and languages such as Hindi and Sanskrit to attract students from the western world to its ‘Study in India’ programme.

The ‘Study in India’ programme, launched in 99 institutes amid much fanfare earlier this year, is an attempt to improve enrolment of foreign students in Indian institutions. It has so far attracted a majority of students from Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

“We have only been getting students from developing countries, which was the initial aim of the programme. But in order to expand it in a better way, it is important to get students from developed nations as well,” said an official of the programme that is being implemented by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Less than 1 per cent of students enrolled in the programme are from the developed nations.

“We did some research and found that students from the US and European countries are interested in learning about Indian culture and language and things that are a part of our tradition such yoga. So we have decided to play on that,” the official added.

“We are now trying to get universities to design four to six-week short-term courses for students in Indian tradition and languages,” the officer further said.


Also read: Why Narendra Modi cannot afford to skip Yoga practice for even a single day now


The Study in India programme

The Study in India Programme is a one-stop platform for foreign students to register themselves and secure admission in educational institutes in India, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

A total of 99 institutes including the Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology are offering 2,858 courses and over 21,000 seats for foreign students under the programme as of October.

In the first six months of the programme, however, only 5,000 students have enrolled with the Indian government.

“In the first year of the launch we are just trying to make people aware that there is a one-stop platform for them to come and find out information about education in India,” said an official from EdCIL, an independent body under ministry that looks after foreign enrolments in India.

“After a year, we will have to aggressively focus on the numbers because that is what the target is, to increase foreign enrolment.”

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1 COMMENT

  1. Good Move. Anything comes from west, then only our guys will understand & agree the benefits of yoga & Richness of the Sanskrit language, as already they declared Sanskrit as dead language. Let these Grads will learn & show that it is not a communal. Tx.

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