New India admission rule stuns expats
The Indian government’s decision to abruptly change the criteria for expatriate students seeking admission in engineering and technical colleges back home risks jeopardising many promising futures, teachers and students said.
The matter pertains to an amendment to the Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme, which was initiated by India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2001. The scheme allowed non-resident Indians, foreigners and persons of Indian origin to seek admission to undergraduate and post graduate courses in premier technical institutes in India. Till 2016, the elibility critera was a two-year education abroad in grades 11 and 12. The students were also required to take Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
However, just a day before commencement of registration on April 1 this year, the Indian government increased the minimum foreign residency requirement to to five years from two.
This also means that expatriate students who do not fit the eligibility criteria are now supposed to compete with the regular students for seats to prestigious institutes. Academicians argue that this is not a healthy competition as students living abroad do not have the same competitive edge and attitude to last out in the regular battle of admissions, which is known to be a very taxing process in India. Read more…