India has become favourite destination of global educational institutions: Dharmendra Pradhan

BERHAMPUR: India has become the favourite destination of global educational institutions, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday, asserting that the sector has transformed in the last few years.

Addressing the convocation of IISER-Berhampur, Pradhan said the total enrollment of students reached 4.46 crore in 2022-23, a 30 per cent increase since 2014-15. "While several global institutes have already opened their campuses in the country, others are in the pipeline. Some of our institutes have also opened their campuses in foreign countries. IIM-Ahmadabad will soon open its campus in Dubai," he said.

Maintaining that the government was committed towards inclusive education, he said female enrolment during the period has grown by around 40 per cent. The New Education Policy 2020 has been implemented with the aim of making India a developed nation by 2047, Pradhan said. He urged students to become "job creators and not job seekers" through innovation.

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IISER Convocation 2025

Addressing the convocation of Berhampur University earlier in the day, the minister urged students to make India number one in Economics in the world. "University is not only an institute to teach, but also it should be involved in research and innovations," he said.

Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati addressed the convocations of both the institutes and highlighted the growth of the education ecosystem of the country in the last few years. The governor also inaugurated the central advanced instrumentation facility at the IISER campus.

At the IISER convocation, a total of 136 BS-MS, one MS and 22 PhD students received their degrees. Berhampur University awarded honorary DSc to Department of Atomic Energy Secretary Ajit Kumar Mohanty, former DG of DRDO's Aeronautical Systems Tessy Thomas, and tribal farmer Raimati Ghiuria, also known as 'Millet Queen'.