India Attracts 72,000 Foreign Students; ₹6,198.99 Crore Allocated to Boost World-Class Institutions

India is a new destination for higher education with 72,218 foreign students from 200 countries. The government has sanctioned ₹6,198.99 crore to eight public institutions under the World Class Institutions scheme.

Minister of Education (State), Sukanta Majumdar, informed that the Union government has allocated ₹6,198.99 crore for eight public institutions under the World Class Institutions scheme. Right now, about 72,218 students from nearly 200 countries are studying in Indian colleges and universities. India is becoming a popular place for foreign students.

Sukanta Majumdar, (MOES), shared this information in the Rajya Sabha session, answering a supplementary question. He informed that government support for higher education institutions to rise in world world-level platform. The Indian government has given ₹6,198.99 crore to eight big public institutions under the World Class Institutions scheme. This scheme helps selected colleges become world-class in teaching and research.

He further informaed that India’s global ranking is improving in every segment. Today, 54 Indian institutions are in the QS World University Rankings 2026. In 2014–15, only 11 institutions were ranked. This is India’s best performance ever in these rankings.

India is improving education quality through National Education Policy 2020. NEP focuses on better infrastructure, strong research, and industry linkages. Because of these changes, the number of Indian institutions in QS rankings has doubled in five years, from 27 in 2021 to 54 now.

There are 72,218 foreign students present in India as of 2025 from different countries, over 200. The government is also working to attract more international students and collaborate with foreign universities.