India's working on a plan to have half a million foreign students by 2047

By 2047, India hopes to register half a million international students, according to BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of Niti Aayog.

The remarks were delivered by Mr. Subrahmanyam at the 18th FICCI Higher Education Summit. Additionally, he predicted that technology would “blow up” the higher education market and that, in order for colleges to remain competitive and relevant, they must fully embrace artificial intelligence.

“NITI Aayog is preparing a vision document for 2047 and education has a separate role in it. One of the important points in this include that, by 2047, we aim to target half a million foreign students in India. We should become the global provider of education by improving our quality, brand value and improve our rankings which are globally recognised,” he said.

The Niti Aayog CEO asserted that more education cities must be established in India.

In addition to encouraging domestic students to study in India, the Niti Aayog CEO asked the private sector to further develop the nation’s higher education ecosystem and make sure that more foreign students are drawn to the nation.

“We need to be more innovative in the higher education sector. We need to focus on revamping the educational system so that the students are industry ready,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of newer technology, Mr Subrahmanyam said, “Technology is going to blow up the higher education sector (in India). The universities have to embrace AI (Artificial Intelligence) in a big way to stay relevant and competitive.”

“Universities will invariably play a huge role in developing the right thought process of students. The Indian universities, higher educational institutions have a period of 25 years to exploit the potential of India’s demographic dividend,” he added.

(With agency inputs)