To realize these goals of NEP 2020, a number of activities have been undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Regulatory Bodies (UGC & AICTE) and HEIs. Some of the initiatives are as follows:

• Guidelines for Internationalisation of Higher Education were issued on 29.07.2021. Accordingly, about 700 HEIs have established office of International Affairs at their campuses.
• Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Higher Educational Institutions to offer Twinning, Joint Degree and Dual Degree Programmes Regulations have been issued on 02.05.2022. This, inter-alia, promotes enhanced academic collaboration with foreign higher educational institutions leading towards academic and research excellence in the Indian HEIs. It also aims to provide global exposure to students, internationalisation at home, multi-disciplinary education with an internationally relevant curriculum and enhance employability. It will also attract foreign students and improve the standards of Indian universities as internationalization is an important parameter in rankings. Around 49 HEIs are offering programmes out of 230 eligible Indian Universities.
• Guidelines for admission and creation of supernumerary seats for international students in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in HEIs in India has been issued on 30.9.2022 for harnessing opportunities to attract international students, academics, and funding, and to increase their outreach. It will create a favorable environment for attracting international students to Indian HEIs, thereby making India a preferred destination for students from abroad.
• The footprint of the Indian HEIs at global stage has been on the rise which is evident from the fact that about 45 HEIs/Universities were ranked in QS 2024, with 11 placed in top 500. 44 courses, in their respective subject categories, have been ranked among the Global top 100 in QS Rankings 2023.
• Our Institutions have established their reputation in the global arena which has resulted in high performing Indian HEIs setting up campuses in other countries. IIT Madras is setting up campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania and the academic program will be started in October 2023. Similarly, IIT Delhi, another top performing Indian HEIs will setup Campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE. These measures will further enhance India’s reputation globally and result in internationalization of Indian HEIs.

In the 1st National Conference of the Chief Secretary in June 2022, one of the decisions was to study methodology for ranking of HEIs and ranking parameters, based on which an appropriate roadmap be drawn to improve ranking of Indian HEIs subject and university wise both nationally and globally.

Further it is envisioned to establish India as a global education and research hub with globally competitive academic institutions that attract learners from across world. It is targeted by 2030, 10 Indian HEIs should be in top 200 in world ranking [QS or THE] and by 2047 the number is targeted at 20 (with 10 Institutions in top 100). Similarly at present around 50,000 students are enrolled in India, which is targeted at 2 lakhs in 2030 and 5 lakhs in 2047.

8.1 Expected Outcomes of the Session

The Session would provide a forum where the Institutions and stakeholders can collaborate to foster successful internationalization initiatives in higher education.

• Achieving global standards of quality in HEIs through accreditation and international collaborations.
• Roadmap to improve ranking of Indian HEIs subject-wise and university wise both nationally and globally.
• Measures to be adopted to attract more and more inbound foreign students.
• Ensuring diversity in the classroom and campus.
• Sharing of teaching-learning- research best practices, and gradually evolving into universities with global enhancement in standards in teaching-learning-research, community engagement and pastoral services.
• Achieving economic expansion, global outreach, and knowledge acquisition from global sources.
• Development of internationally relevant curriculum framework with specific initiatives under student, faculty, programme, and institutional mobility.

8.2 Roadmap for the institutes

Some of the ways in which institutes can achieve internationalization are:

• Encouraging Indian institutes to collaborate with foreign institutes to offer joint/twinning/dual degree programmes, especially in subjects that have gained importance at present such as data analytics, computer science, and climate change and sustainability.
• Providing impetus and support to Indian institutes to open offshore campuses in other countries with a major focus on countries having a sizeable population of the Indian diaspora.
• Allowing foreign institutes to open offshore campuses in India to provide international exposure to Indian students.
• Introducing global standards and global faculty to the Indian education system through targeted student and faculty exchange programmes, inviting international scholars as guest faculty and integrating international testing standards and tests such as SAT, LSAT, GRE and GMAT in the admissions process.
• Increasing international collaboration in academic research by encouraging Indian institutes, especially institutes who have ranked in NIRF, QS and THE, to collaborate with international institutes of repute and jointly publish research papers and articles. Such arrangements will boost the reputation of Indian institutes in global rankings through improvement in number of publications, number of citations, and the citation impact of Indian authors.
• As more Indian students start embracing international schooling boards such as IB and Cambridge, Indian boards need to become more competitive and start integrating international norms and standards such as flexibility of curriculum, advanced subjects and increased subject options. Student exchanges at the school level may also be explored.
• Industry-focused training in Indian universities through increased focus on vocational education, internships, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training is the need of the hour to enable students to be prepared for the needs of Industry 4.0.