Major dip in foreign students enrolling at Mumbai varsity
MUMBAI: Amid the pandemic, the international student count of the University of Mumbai dipped to 101 in the 2020-21 academic year from 209 and 227 foreign national or non-resident Indian (NRI) students who had confirmed their admissions in 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively, data revealed.
For years, Nepal contributed to a majority of international students approaching Mu-affiliated colleges or departments for higher education opportunities.
From 26 and 28 students confirming admissions in the past two academic years, 2020-21 saw only five students from Nepal in MU.
Similarly, 42 students from Afghanistan had confirmed admissions in MU in 2019-20, but in 2020-21, not a single student from the country registered for admissions.
Usually, NRIS make up for the largest chunk of international students approaching MU. Nut only five NRI students confirmed admissions in 2020-21, compared to 85 and 92 students in 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively.
“Several foreign nationals usually opt for undergraduate (UG) as well as postgraduate (PG) degrees in innovative selffinanced courses and in the field of science and research,” said a varsity spokesperson, adding that every year, students who visit MU under exchange programmes end up liking a course and come back to seek admission soon after.
“The pandemic, however, has forced students to rethink and re-plan. So may have postponed their plans for foreign education by a year at least,” he said.
While applications from several countries dipped in the 2020-21 academic year, surprisingly those from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States of America (USA) increased as compared to the previous years.
From 11 UAE students in 2019-20 and 17 in 2018-19, the count rose to 29 in 2020-21, while 15 students from the US confirmed admissions as opposed to 12 in 2019-20.
“Many foreign nationals choose to pursue PG degree in languages as well as science and research. I have been in touch with some of my UG students who are foreign nationals and they specifically deferred their higher education plans in MU by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the head of a foreign language department at MU, on the condition of anonymity.
She added that this dip will only be a temporary trend and colleges are expecting the numbers to rise in the upcoming admission season.
Several Mumbai colleges also attract students from across the country every year and the pandemic, however, has not discouraged such students from approaching city institutes for admissions.
“At the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year we were worried that the number of outstation and international students will be affected. But were surprised to see more applications that ever of students from Gujarat, Rajasthan as well as Bihar,” said Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate.
“We have previously also received applications of students from USA, Australia and the UK (United Kingdom). But last year, applications from international students had dropped,” he said, adding that several NRI students, especially from Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar still approached the college for admissions.