New Delhi : The Central government on Wednesday launched a common admission portal for foreign students to promote Indian education to “200,000 international students by 2023”.

The portal ‘Study in India’ was launched here as an initiative by the Human Resource Development Ministry, aided by the External Affairs Ministry.

Under the initiative, a total of 160 higher education institutes have been identified to provide education in over 1,500 courses to international students seeking to study in India. The institutes include all Indian Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Technology, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Presidency College, Kolkata, etc.

“Study in India has many dimensions. It’s a project where India becomes a hub of educational activities … Over the years we have seen a stagnation in the number of students coming to India. Singapore, Australia, and many other countries attracted more students. From India also, I have seen Australia doing a ‘Study in Australia’ project,” HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a video address.

“We are today focussing on Asia, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), Africa, Gulf (Middle East) but… I have a dream that even American families will send their children to complete undergraduate courses in India,” he said.

Calling the endeavour a “major step forward” to freeing Indian education market for foreign students, Secretary, Higher Education, R. Subrahmanyam said that about 55 per cent of the total seats on offer at these 160 institutes will come with fee waivers.

The venture will include easing of visa requirements for international students.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satyapal Singh and diplomats from over 30 countries attended the launch.

—IANS