RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2558
ANSWERED ON- 10/08/2023
INDIAN STUDENTS STUDYING IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES
2558. SHRI TIRUCHI SIVA
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
(a) whether Government has maintained a data base of Indian students studying in foreign universities, along with the number of students enrolled in medical courses in China;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of students who have had to return to India from China due to COVID-19 pandemic and issues faced by them;
(d) the measures which Government proposes for their appearence in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination and issuing medical license to such students; and
(e) whether Government has any scheme for the welfare of Indian students studying in foreign universities, if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN)
(a to c) As per the information available with the Ministry, approximately 10,000 Indian students are currently pursuing higher education in China. However, specific information about the Indian students are not available, as students do not register themselves with Indian Missions, inspite of Missions and Posts constant efforts.
As per available data, nearly 14000 students had returned to India from China during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ministry, along with the Embassy of India, Beijing had adopted a multi- pronged approach to facilitate Indian students returning from China which included, inter alia, emergency evacuation from worst hit areas, establishment of 24X7 Control Room and dedicated hotlines for students seeking help and liaising with the government departments and universities of the People’s Republic of China for early return of these students to pursue their left over courses and minimize the curriculum loss.
(d & e) The National Medical Commission (NMC) has devised a scheme under which Indian students who were in the last year of their undergraduate medicine course had to leave their foreign medical institute (due to COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine conflict etc) and were also granted certificate of completion of course/degree by the respective institute on or before 30th June, 2022, are permitted to appear in Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMG). Thereafter, upon qualifying the FMG examination, such foreign medical graduates are required to undergo Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship (CRMI) for a period of two years to make up for the clinical training which could not be physically attended by them during the undergraduate medicine course in the foreign institute and also to familiarize them with practice of medicine under Indian conditions.
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