Jadavpur University (JU) is going global, at least as far student intake is concerned.

The UGC centre of excellence has recently decided to go all out for foreign students. The decision was prompted by a letter from the Union ministry of human resources development, asking it to strive to admit foreign students in undergraduate courses, particularly in the engineering disciplines.

The letter says the Centre has finalised its decision to simplify the process of obtaining visas for foreign students aspiring to pursue education in reputed Indian institutions.

The government has also allowed JU to grant direct admission to foreign students. Currently, students from abroad can take admission in Indian universities only on the basis of recommendations by the Centre, through cultural exchange programmes of Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

?We began an exercise to increase our intake of foreign students last year. We are now trying to reorganise our policy regarding the admission of foreign students after the receiving the letter from the central ministry,? said Partha Pratim Biswas, a senior teacher and a member of the university?s executive council.

The letter was discussed at a meeting of JU?s executive council. The members brainstormed for ways to draw larger numbers of foreign students in full-time undergraduate courses and increase the intake of students from Europe and the US.

Students from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa generally come to study at JU.

?Most of our courses meet international academic standards. We must be more ambitious and target students from the US and Europe,? Biswas said.

The university authorities feel that adoption of a policy on admission of foreign students to full-time courses is needed. At present, the foreign students mostly seek admission in short-term postgraduate courses.

?We need to throw open our undergraduate courses to students of developed countries to make a name for ourselves internationally,? a JU official opined.

The subjects foreign students want to pursue in India include computer applications, computer science, the fine arts, philosophy and other subjects in humanities.

?Our primary target now is to attract students to the engineering courses,? the university official added.

The university has planned a guest house-cum-hostel of international standards to help in the endeavour.