The Government of India carries out a slew of efforts to boost the foreign study ecosystem and help students realize their dreams, with scholarships being just the tip of the iceberg. It is doing everything from publishing handbooks that provide detailed information to aspirants to creating online platforms that offer grievance redressal for Indian students studying abroad.
Studying abroad is a dream for many Indian students. This dream is undoubtedly anchored in students’ hard work and determination, but the support of family and the resident nation government is the scaffolding that helps cement it.
The Government of India has rolled out scores of initiatives to help the Indian students who want to study abroad and those who have already moved to another country for higher studies. From grievance redressal portal to handbooks, the government is leaving no stone unturned to provide curated assistance to aspirants.
Student Handbook for Studying Abroad
The India Center for Migration, the Ministry on Migration Issues think tank, launched the “Student Handbook for Studying Abroad” on March 30, 2021. This handbook comes as a valuable reference for students desiring to study abroad. Aspirants who wish to pursue higher education overseas can find basic information in this handbook, such as how to plan their studies abroad, travel and other expenses, and guidelines on how to ensure their safety and well-being while staying in a foreign country.
The contents of this handbook are divided neatly to cover all stages of studying abroad. One can find everything from selecting a course and institution to visa requirements in this handbook. It also lists the initiatives taken by Indian Missions/Posts.
Madad portal
Launched on February 21, 2015, the MADAD portal is an online grievances monitoring system managed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The e-portal is one of the Ministry of External Affairs’ flagship initiatives under Digital India and acts as an online platform for Indian people residing overseas to raise consular grievances with the Indian government.
The registration module of the portal allows the government to track the number of students going overseas to pursue their studies and reach them in case of emergency. The portal also caters to Indian students planning to pursue higher studies abroad. It enables online logging and tracking of grievances and submission of course/contact details of students.
Before the launch of the MADAD portal, the government had no data on the number of students studying abroad. As a result, it had no way of reaching them in case of emergencies or redressing their grievances. The portal clearly states that “Only grievances falling under the consular jurisdiction of concerned Indians Diplomatic Mission mentioned in the grievance, filled in by the grievant, will be entertained by the Indian Diplomatic Mission.” The platform cannot be used for the visa, passport queries, emergency travel documents, or documents attestation.
Global Indian Students portal
Studying abroad necessitates extensive preparation and organization. Students and their parents need to have extensive knowledge about various things, including the choices for universities and colleges overseas, scholarships available, education loans and medical coverage accessible, and, most crucially, whether the country in question is economically and politically secure. To help students and their parents with authentic and timely information, the Government of India is set to launch the Global Indian Students Portal in 2022.
The portal will be a “reliable and one-point service delivery platform” for aspirants wanting to study abroad. It will offer a module for the registration of students and provide country-wise information on institutions, colleges, and courses with links to the respective university programs. Students will also be able to avail information about whether the equivalence of the particular institution exists or not and if it is recognized in the particular country. Links will be created for the established portal in the host country to enable the same.
In addition, the portal will give links to the Indian Missions abroad and the contact information of Education Counselors that students can reach out to at any point of time during their application process.
Roadmap ahead
Indubitably, the Government of India has undertaken quite a few initiatives to help students studying abroad/planning to study overseas. The students need to be made aware of all these initiatives for the efforts to yield and for the portals to function to their full potential and expedite the information dissemination and grievance redressal processes.
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Views expressed above are the author’s own.
