AMU: The number of overseas students at the Aligarh Muslim University witnessed a sharp decline after covid-19 lockdown. Before covid-29 pandemic, the university hosted around 800 foreign students which has decreased to just 228 students from 21 different nations.
In 1997, a total of 747 international students from 37 countries were studying at AMU.
The university administration says that the decline in the number of international students is due to “unconducive international conditions” and fear of covid-19 pandemic. For the unversed, AMU saw multiple deaths including that of 17 professors on its campus during the peak wave of covid-19 in May 2021.
S Ali Nawaz Zaidi, AMU adviser of the International Students Cell maintains regular communication with prospective overseas students for AMU. Zaidi has been considering their worries.
read more: ‘AMU Should Be Blown Up with Gunpowder’, says Yati Narsinghanand
read more: PhD Seat Scam in Jamia’s Mass Communication Centre
Zaidi was quoted by the news website news18 saying, “We have increased our fees as we have to strengthen our financial conditions. We are also required to upgrade the quality of our education at our campus and that is why we are not paying much attention to increasing only the number of students at AMU. That is why we are talking to students”.
He further added, “University is only now completely open after a gap of two years. Even though we were expecting that post-Covid-19, the number of international students will come down because the pandemic had a devastating effect on political and economic conditions all over the world”.
According to Zaidi, the number of international students has decreased over the last few years. Admissions for the academic year 2022-23 are now taking place on campus, and we are confident that the number of international students will grow this year.
About Author
