IIT Kharagpur’s Thrust on Funded Programs for international students

The Institute received applications from SAARC countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, two ASEAN countries, Vietnam, Laos, and two from Latin America - Colombia, Venezuela, a large number of African countries namely Madagascar, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Angola, Sudan, the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, the Pacific island of Fiji, Middle Eastern nations including Iran, Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, and also from Russia and South Korea. The acceptance rate of the international students in various masters and doctoral degree programs amounts to about 8% of whom 11 students have joined the Institute for the academic year starting 2019.

“Internationalization is a priority for our Institute, especially with the country making it a thrust area in the recently announced budget. Each international applicant goes through an extremely rigorous evaluation process and I am very pleased with the increasing number of excellent foreign students coming into IIT Kharagpur in recent years,” explained Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya, Dean, International Relations.

The MTech programs admitting foreign students this semester include Aerospace Engineering, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering. The doctoral program in the School of Medical Science and Technology and the MBA program in the Vinod Gupta School of Management, each got one international admission in this semester.

“The presence of international students in our Institute brings a fresh perspective to our classrooms and labs and enriches our campus life.  This global perspective is only going to benefit India in the long-run, making our research output more relevant for a larger set of public. In several countries, international students have to pay twice or higher the amount of domestic tuition fees for degree programs. At IIT Kharagpur however the international fees for most graduate degree programs are nominal. In addition to ICCR and SII grants from Govt. of India, we have started offering our own scholarship programs,” said Baidurya Bhattacharya.

Earlier this year the Institute launched the Asoke Dey Sarkar International Program for providing funds to students from SAARC countries. The Institute’s flagship funding program for internationalization, Shri Gopal Rajgarhia International Program, entered its fourth year in 2019 and has made funding international masters and doctoral students its top priority.

For non-degree programs in 2019 until now the Institute has received 50 applications from USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Norway, Spain, Japan, Rwanda, Iran. 13 students were accepted from through various funding programs.

“While we have seen international students enroll for studies at IIT Kharagpur in the past, the new policy of internationalization of the GoI, will boost our efforts and enable us to reach out to a larger number of international aspirants. It may be anticipated that the number of international students on campus will only increase in the coming years,” opined Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Relations, IIT Kharagpur.

Last month the Institute also held a joint conclave with other IITs to increase international outreach and facilitate international students in admission, funding and stay.