Karnataka most preferred by foreign students

Being the IT hub of the country and the hotbed of innovation, Karnataka, not so surprisingly, has attracted the maximum number of overseas students who come to study in India’s higher educational institutions.  A joint report by a leading industry body and the government has also found that the state has the second highest concentration of colleges in the country and boasts a much better teacher-student ratio than the national average. Out of the estimated 27,531 foreign students who chose Indian higher institutions, over 10,000 zeroed-in on Karnataka, as the state accounted for 36.7 per cent of the total number, according to a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry which was released on November 7. Andhra Pradesh with 4,698 students and Maharashtra with 4,369 were ranked second and third in the list of states luring most foreign students. Tamil Nadu with 2,383 overseas students and Delhi with 1,529 of the contingent respectively share fourth and fifth positions in the report on the Status of Higher Education in India. Having 3,098 colleges, Karnataka also had a share of 9.4 per cent of all the colleges in India. It was ranked fourth in terms of total colleges in any state. Boasting 23 public varsities, the state is ranked second for the number of state universities and third for deemed universities. "The state has 6.9 per cent of all the universities in the country,” the report noted. It also has the maximum of six medical universities in the country and has been ranked fifth for having 21 general universities. "In terms of access, Karnataka has the second highest concentration of 44 colleges per lakh population as compared to the all India average of 23 colleges per lakh population,” the report noted. However, the state lags behind the national average of 700 for total enrolment per college. The state has 16 lakh students enrolled in regular mode in the higher educational institutions. Ninety per cent of colleges in the state are affiliated to Universities, while the rest are either constituent/university colleges, PG/off-campuses or university recognised centres. The state also has 66.3 per cent of private unaided colleges, 20 per cent government owned and 13.5 private aided. With 1.32 lakh teaching and 0.95 lakh non-teaching staff respectively in all colleges, which amounts to 42.5 teaching staff per college and 30.5 non-teaching, Karnataka fell behind the national average in terms of number of teachers in a college, the report mentioned. DHNS