Faculty Vacancies, Poor Infrastructure Hit Telangana’s Foreign Student Enrolment

Hyderabad: As Telangana has performed poorly in foreign student enrollment, according to the Union education ministry’s All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), academics have attributed these figures to faculty vacancies, academic standards, course selection, student facilities and admission delays.

Telangana Education Commission member Prof. “Around 80 per cent of faculty posts in higher education are vacant. They need to be filled. Osmania University once attracted students from 20 to 25 countries, but lack of faculty recruitment has had a negative impact,” said PL Vishweshwar Rao.

Students from Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries with fewer higher education options once came to the university in greater numbers, Rao said. Their registration has since been denied. According to him, apart from faculty issues, environment, quality of teaching, infrastructure, modern modules, hostel and ranking are also important to attract foreign students.

Professor emeritus, University of Hyderabad (UoH), Dr. “The government needs to raise academic standards to global standards. Except for a few Indian Institutes of Technology and private colleges, institutions here do not meet the standards of foreign universities,” said KP Rao.

Course selection was another matter. Telangana Higher Education Council Chairman Prof. V. Balakista Reddy said universities should offer programs that appeal to international students instead of courses where demand is limited abroad. “We need to open courses that will attract the attention of foreign students. We are planning courses in the fields of trade, business and aviation,” he said. Prof. Vishweshwar Rao also made a similar point. He said universities should offer modern courses that students cannot study in their home countries.

Osmania University has increased the number of current foreign enrollments in undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs to 463. The total of the figures provided by the university by category reached 394; which was 69 fewer than the stated total. This separation included 349 undergraduate students, 37 graduate students, and eight doctoral students.

The Bachelor of Computer Applications had the largest undergraduate cohort with 99 students. Bachelor of Arts consisted of 85 students, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Technology 65 students, Bachelor of Science 59 students and Bachelor of Commerce 41 students.

The postgraduate census included 15 Master’s students. The Master of Computer Applications and the Master of Arts had 11 students each.

University officials, International Relations Office, Vice Rector Prof. He said that he met with foreign university delegations headed by M. Kumar about 17 times. Osmania University is planning a five-year dual degree programme, twinning programs involving partner universities, short-term study and diploma courses. Their offerings also include semester abroad options and student and faculty exchanges.