As a part of pan-African e-network project on education and medicine the government of India will offer 15,000 scholarships to African students over the next five years to pursue online courses from the country’s universities.
According to India’s secretary for Economic Relations in the ministry of External Affairs, T S Tirumurti:
“The programs will be delivered in the second phase of a tele-education initiative called the e-VidhyaBharati and e-ArogyaBharati Network Project (e-VBAB) later this year.”
About Project:
The project will include all 54 African countries and provide short term courses for undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs that will run on web-based portals connecting educational institutions.
The aim is to open the door to education and medical expertise from India to African students, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.
“The e-VBAB portal will be opened soon to all African nationals and will include partner universities and hospitals,” the official added.
” The initiative is being implemented with the support of India’s ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) and will target students who do not want to or cannot undertake training in India.”
Eased Visa Requirements For African Students:
India has eased the visa requirements for African nationals to attract more students from the continent.
“We truly welcome students from Africa who come and study in India. It can be seen in our liberal visa regime for African students, most African countries are eligible for e-visas.”
“And It’s an opportunity for those students who don’t want to take the flight to come to India can now get an Indian degree from the comfort of his or her home as in the case of tele-education courses of e-VBAB.”
According to R Subrahmanyam, secretary for India’s ministry of Human Resource Development:
“From the past four years, India has established training centres across 14 African countries mainly ICT, vocational training and entrepreneurship.”
“Study in India program will be expanded to cover some 30 African countries, allowing learners from the countries to benefit from less stringent visa restrictions.”
“India would create positions in some of its best institutions of higher learning for the benefit of international students, and a third of the places would be offered concessional fees, allowing foreign and diaspora students to access different forms of scholarships.”
According to a report, over 4,500 African have already applied under Study in India from the region Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda.
Buti Kgwaridi Manamela, South Africa’s deputy minister for Higher Education in South Africa said:
“The country and India are engaged in negotiations aimed at establishing a Mutual Recognition Agreement in a big to help South African countries with a sizeable Indian population easily enrol in Indian universities.”
“South Africa is also in the process of developing a policy for internationalising its education system a process that could benefit from the input of India.”
The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that there are about 25,000 African students enrolled in over 500 Indian institutions which are attracted by affordable fees.