Foreign students returning but below pre-COVID levels

Mysuru: The dark clouds cast by COVID over the admission of foreign students to the University of Mysore (UoM) has finally lifted with many students enrolling to various courses offered by the University, its constituent Colleges and also Private Colleges.

Since last year, the number of students arriving from offshore destinations dwindled, posing an unprecedented challenge to international education. The number of foreign students in the University drastically came down. When Universities abruptly shut down because of the Coronavirus pandemic, many students returned to their parents’ homes.

Now the number of students taking admissions is going up as travellers from 99 countries, who are fully-vaccinated, have now been exempted from mandatory quarantine on arrival in India, according to revised guidelines from the Centre.

Passengers from the United States, Great Britain, Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Bangladesh, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Nepal are some of the countries that feature on the exempted list.

The exemption follows India’s agreement with some of the 99 nations on “mutual recognition of [COVID-19] vaccination certificates” of nationally recognised or the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised vaccines.

Every year, over 400 to 600 foreign students enrol for academic programmes in the University and its affiliated Colleges. A majority of foreign students, who come to Mysuru for studies, are from African countries, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, South Korea, China, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

In 2019, there were over 700 foreign students from 58 countries who had taken admissions. Following the pandemic, their numbers trickled down to double digits. Post-pandemic and post-vaccination, however, the number has touched the 600 mark, still a bit less when compared to the pre-COVID levels.

Prof. G.R. Janardhana, Director of International Centre, told Star of Mysore that in 2021, only 311 foreign students had applied for various courses. Now the number has reached 600 and in the near future, as more and more people travel for education, the number will go up to 1,000 or 1,100 as Mysuru has always been a preferred education destination, he said.

 “Popular courses include MBA, commerce, computer applications and there have been enquiries from China, Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Russia, Yemen, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” he added.

 The University offers good facilities including food, accommodation, medical care and consular access. There are fully furnished private accommodations outside the University. Mysore University has an exclusive International Centre that provides appropriate support services to international faculty and students.