Bamu to lose more international students in coming days

By Mehboob Inamdar

Aurangabad: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University will lose admissions of more international students in the coming days as Yemeni Government has excluded it from the list of approved universities.

It may be noted that 100 to 200 international students take admission to undergraduate, and postgraduate courses to Ph D research in Bamu and affiliated colleges every year.

The highest number of students among them are from Yemen. Their admission ratio is between 50 to 60 per cent.

Republic of Yemen’s Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research which approves certificate equation and recognition, recommends a list of higher education establishments in different countries every year on the basis of its students getting facilities and treatment in the educational institutes. Bamu was excluded from the list of recommended 80 Indian universities list for admissions from 2023.

A group of Yemeni students told this newspaper that there is a huge communication gap between Yemeni students and university officers due to their refusal to solve their issues. “International students come here from travelling thousands of miles for education. We pay three to five times more than the local students. If a local student pays Rs 25,000 yearly fees, we pay Rs 1.25 lakh for the same course. Despite this, there is an unequal treatment to the foreign students,” they said.

The international students destined for the city have now started moving to universities from Kerala, Hyderabad and Mysuru.

When contacted, vice-chancellor Dr Pramod Yeole said that he had heard only about the list of educational institutes declared by the Saudi Arabian Government and was not aware of Yemeni Government’s list.

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Already 25 pc decline

There was nearly a 25 per cent decline in international student admissions at Bamu departments and affiliated colleges this year compared to the last academic year. Nearly 204 students had taken admissions last year while this year, it is 155. When Yemeni students stop coming next year, the percentage will go down further.

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Loss of revenue

The students pay three to five times the tuition and examination fees compared to a local student. The university will incur lakhs of rupees in revenue yearly since a large chunk of students come from Yemen.

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Impact on Bamu’s grading, ranking

The more a university has international students, the better grading from NAAC and the rank in the National Institute of Ranking Framework, it will get. This means that it will affect Bamu’s grade and ranking.

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Some of major issues of international students are as follows;

--Negative perception of foreign students in administrative departments and sections, considering them as a burden

---Constant annual increase in the tuition fees without meeting the basic requirements and materials of research

-- There is a total absence of the representation of foreign students in the university to voice out their problems.

--Getting students work done in Ph D section is a challenge in itself for researchers.