Number of foreign students joining Osmania University rising

Hyderabad: Almost 2,500 foreign students, mostly from the African countries, have been given provisional admissions in Osmania University. Officials expect about 1,900 of them to enroll for the 2016-17 academic year. The university attracted 1,246 foreign nationals last year.

About 70 per cent of the admissions are for undergraduate programmes, while most of the rest  join post-graduate courses and less than five per cent for Ph.D programmes

According to University Foreign Relations Office director Prof. C. Venugopal Rao, students from about 80 countries have either been alumni or are students of the university.

“OU has been one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education along with Pune and Mysore universities as far as foreign nationals are concerned. Besides its University for Potential Excellence status, what sets apart Osmania University is its academic connection with Asian and West Asian countries right from Nizam’s period,” he said,

Of the nearly 2,500 provisional admissions given this year, 1,900 are self-financed and another 550 are under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations scholarship. While a student getting an ICCR scholarship gets full tuition fee and monthly stipend for the duration of course, self-financing students pay from their own pocket.

This year students from China, South Africa, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, the Maldives, Nepal, Malawi, Djibouti are joining OU. For the first time, students from the Comoros archipelago off the Africa coast have sought admission.

While 85 per cent of PG students will be accommodated on the campus, UG students will be allotted to noted institutions like Nizam College, PG College at Saifabad, Bhavan’s Vivekananda College, Sainikpuri, AV College, Anwar-ul-loom College, St.Mary’s Yousufguda, St. Francis, Villa Marie and Koti Women’s College.

Prof. Venugopal Rao said nearly 1,100 students are attending under-graduate classes that began on July 4. About 25 per cent of the students were accommodated in Nizam College.

BCA a hot favourite among Foreign students at Osmania University

The Bachelor of Computer Applications, which has fewer takers here, is a hot favourite among foreign students.

University Foreign Relations Office director Prof. C. Venugopal Rao said nearly 640 provisional admission letters had been issued for foreign students who sought admission in BCA. Of them, 300 have already joined the university, he said.

“Students hailing from West Asia and even African countries get good placement opportunities in their countries after completing the BCA.

“Hence the heavy rush. Keeping foreign students in mind we have even revived the course in some colleges,” he said.

Prof. C. Venugopal Rao  said the BCA had lost significance after the huge increase in the number of engineering seats. Earlier, the BCA and the MCA opened doors for an IT career.

Local students and their parents now prefer the B.Tech or BE degree.