Indian Institutes of Technology: The year 2022 saw a spike in the number of foreign national students in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). This was revealed by the latest released Joint Entrance Examination Advanced Report. A total of 66 seats were offered to foreign nationals in the IITs in the year 2022. As per the reports this number is considered to be the highest as in the previous 5 years, the number never crossed ten.
Experts attribute this spike to the change in the definition of foreign nationals who are applying for professional courses in India. Based on the reports of the Gazette Issued by the Government of India on March 4, 2021, all OCI and PIO candidates will be treated as foreign nationals for JEE Advanced and JOSAA for seat allocation in IITs.
Also as per the officials, these students are allotted supernumerary seats with much higher fees than usual. These foreign students can also include Indian students who are having passports from other countries due to many reasons.
Earlier they were given a regular pool of seats and were considered Indians but now they too are considered foreign nationals and are given supernumerary seats in the IITs. These seats are offered to foreigners also including OCI and PIO candidates.
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