More foreign students in Indian varsities will make them truly global

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Technological University (GTU) Vice Chancellor Akshai Aggarwal today said there is a need to increase intake of foreign students to make GTU and other Indian universities truly international. GTU, which is the largest university in Gujarat with more than 4.5 lakh students enrolled in 480 affiliated colleges, organised its Third Conclave on Afro-Asian Countries here.

While addressing ambassadors and high commissioners of several Afro-Asian countries, Aggarwal expressed dissatisfaction over the number of foreign students enrolled at GTU. "In India, a university is called 'Vishwa Vidyalaya', but that is not the case in practice. We need to change this scenario to make our universities truly global," Aggarwal said in his inaugural speech.

Aggarwal gave an example of a small university in Canada to make his point. "When I was in Canada on tour, I visited a university, which was fairly small in size and student strength but I learnt that almost 15 per cent of their students are from other countries. That is the mark of a truly international institution," Aggarwal said.

According to him, students from almost 31 countries, including some developed countries, are enrolled with various colleges of GTU. "We even trained students of some developed countries like Germany, but we do not get many students from African and Asian countries. We want more students from these countries. I urge these countries to increase their collaboration with GTU or any other university in India," Aggarwal said.