Hyderabad, September 20: With the inflow of foreign students increasing even as the Telangana agitation looms large over the Osmania University, the varsity is planning to customize its syllabus as well as examination system to suit international students. This decision has been taken to help the ever-growing international students community.
“Writing skills have been a problem with international students. The focus will be on making the examination pattern objective-type and increasing stress on internal assessment,” said principal of the University College of Commerce and Management, Prof H Venkateshwarlu. His college will be the first one to introduce the policy change with other colleges to follow suit in a phased manner.
International students studying in the university has shot up from 400 to over 4,000 in the last 5 years. The numbers shot up from 2,722 to 4,000 in the last academic year. They are expected to increase by 600 more this year.
Around 500 students sponsored by the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) and another 80 sponsored by the governments of Ethiopia, Yemen and Bhutan have been admitted this year. Sudan with 425 students is the top exporter to the university followed by Yemen (277). Ethiopia (243), Afghanistan (221) and Tanzania (189) are among other high exporters. BCom with over 600 foreign students, BCA with over 500, BE (BTech) with 350, BA with 263 and BSc with 250 students, remain the favourites among international students. As computer science and IT-related courses have been major hits, four special sections have been introduced at the Saifabad PG College, Secunderabad PG College and two at Nizam’s College.
The Univerty Foreign Relations Office (UFRO), which has a single window process for admission which cuts short administrative delays. This is a major factor behind the increase in intake of students. According to the UFRO officer Prof TLN Swamy, the huge jump in the number of foreign students is mainly due to the low cost of living, quality of education, conducive teaching methods and the system of choice based on the international credit system. “A medical insurance policy on compulsory basis is being launched from the current academic year to ensure students can avail cashless treatment up to Rs 1 lakh rupees. We are the only university which holds an exclusive convocation for foreign students,” said Prof Swamy.
–Agencies