US hopes number of American students in India will grow: Envoy

With the number of Indians studying in US rising by over 25 percent since last year, the United States is hoping that the number of American students in India will also grow due to several initiates, its envoy to India Richard Verma said here today.

"We are happy about the growth in the number of Indians studying in the US during academic year 2015-16. I am also pleased to see an increase in the number of undergraduate students.

"We are hoping that with the Passport to India initiative and the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on 'Importance of India', the number of American students in India will begin to grow," Verma said at a press conference.

"We are also focusing on policy and regulatory environment in which institutional partnership is important. The Indian government has taken several initiatives in the education sector such as drafting of the National Education Policy and regulation on establishment of world class universities.

"We are ready to partner with them on this and other higher education initiatives," the US ambassador said.

Verma also talked about highlights of the 2016 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange which said that a record 165,918 Indians were studying in the US during academic year 2015-16, a rise of 25 percent over the last year, making it the second leading country of origin among international students in America.

The Open Doors report is published annually by the Institute of International Education in partnership with the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The report also stated that over 313,000 US students received credit last year for study abroad during 2014-15, an increase of nearly three percent over the previous year.