New Delhi: Now, JEE (Advanced) exam will be conducted in nine foreign countries and eligible foreign students would be given opportunity to take the exam for admission into Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). It is expected that the new initiative, IIT Admission Exam in foreign countries, will become operational from academic year 2017-18.

To improve the international standing of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the IIT Council has decided to provide opportunity for the eligible foreign students to study in the IITs. For this purpose, it has been decided to focus on the neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Singapore, UAE and Ethiopia. Under this initiative, only such foreign national candidates who qualify in this exam would be offered admission to study in the IITs.

This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Mr Prakash Javadekar today (25 July 2016) in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question. There shall be no reduction in the seats available for students in India while providing admissions to foreign students. These seats would be considered as supernumerary seats, said the minister.

The entire cost of admission of the foreign students may be recovered from the student fee (foreign nationals) which may or may not be covered by a scholarship. There shall be no additional cost to Government on account of these admissions. There shall be no discrimination in giving facilities between Indian and foreign students.

Further, IIT Bombay has been designated as the National Coordinator for coordinating the visit of IIT teams to these countries with the Indian Missions abroad, so that the students in these countries are made aware of the advantages of studying in the IITs.