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Source: The post is based on the article “How ICCR plans to build its brand ambassador programme amongst foreign students in India” published in The Hindu on 3rd April 2023
What is the News?
Indian Council for Cultural Relations(ICCR) is planning to start E-3 or Exit Engagement Evenings with foreign students.
What is E-3 or Exit Engagement Evenings with foreign students?
Aim: To expand India’s artistic and creative footprint globally, by tapping into the experiences of foreign students studying here.
Features of the programme: The programme will begin three or four months before the foreign students finish their courses in various Central and State universities of the country.
– The engagements would include visits to places of national importance. At present, the ICCR has zeroed in on the Khadi Commission, the Indian Tourism Development Corporation and the Department of AYUSH to hold these evenings with the students.
Significance: This “soft diplomacy” is meant to spread the India story when students go back to their home countries.
About Foreign Students in India
According to the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) brought out by the Ministry of Education, the number of foreign students enrolled in Indian higher education institutions were 48,035 in 2020-21, a marginal dip from 49,348 in 2019-20.
People from more than 160 countries visit India to study. Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the U.S., the UAE, Bhutan, Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Yemen were the countries from which the majority of the students came.
What is the India Alumni Portal?
Launched by: Indian Council for Cultural Relations(ICCR)
Purpose: It is a platform to connect with foreign students around the world who have studied in India.
– The portal is envisaged to be a single platform for all past and present foreign scholars to register, interact, and maintain their Indian links.
– The portal is aimed at helping past students reconnect with each other. ICCR itself offers scholarships to over 6,000 students every year, and there are now 30,000+ ICCR alumni.
