Human Resource Development Ministry is planning for new a schemes where Foreign students will be allowed to take IIT entrance exams like JEE Main,
JEE Advanced,
and
GATE
and after that, they would be able to take admissions in IITs for its various undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
From the next years, students from UAE, Ethiopia, Singapore and seven SAARC nations- Afghanistan, Bhutan-Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives will be able to seat for the IIT Entrance exam as government is planning for extending the exam into these countries
The Indian government is aiming to enroll more students from other countries as it will help in the International ranking of these institutes.
The IIT Mumbai has been authorized by Government of India to monitor and anchor necessary information like details of the test, the course, and FAQs. But the foreign students will not get fees subsidized for the Indian students. As a result, the course fees would be high for the foreign students.
It is also made clear the seat to be offered to the foreign students would be either supernumerary or additional in nature. It would not reduce the seats for Indian students reserved for the quota. In all the 18 IITs foreign students will be given research visa for the duration of the program. But the Indian security establishments are yet to approve for this foreign IIT scheme.