National Institute of Technology, Patna, plans to admit at least 10 students in its next academic session under Direct Admission to Students Abroad scheme, a centrally funded programme.

This year, the institute admitted one student from Saudi Arabia under the programme. Now, on a marketing spree, the institute plans to increase the number of foreign students it admits from next year.

Under the Direct Admission to Students Abroad (Dasa) programme, non-resident Indians, foreign nationals or persons of Indian origin can seek direct admission to premier engineering colleges, including the National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Information Technology, without appearing for entrance test (read JEE main) for undergraduate engineering and management courses.

NIT-Patna director Asok De said: “This year we admitted only one student through the Dasa programme. From next year, the institute plans to admit at least 10 students.”

Mohammed Favas, an NRI from Saudi Arabia, has taken admission at NIT-Patna this year. He said: “I don’t feel any problem at the institute, as the fellow students are very co-operative.”

Originally from Kozhikode, Kerala, Favas’ parents are settled in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, for at least 25 years.

To expand its reach, NIT-Patna is planning to attract students from the Saarc countries, especially Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, because of their geographical proximity to Bihar. It will also draw students from Thailand and Myanmar.

De said: “Under the Dasa programme, the institute will advertise the admission process in the newspapers of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The admission process for the next academic session will begin in December.”

Sanjay Kumar, a faculty member of NIT-Patna, said: “Foreign students can take direct admission to the National Institutes of Technology through this programme. They would have to secure at least 60 per cent aggregate marks or a 6.75 cumulative grade point average (on a scale of 10) in Class XII or its equivalent class, having mathematics and physics in the science stream.”

One of the advantages of the programme, Sanjay said, was it gives institutions an opportunity to market themselves in the Arab, Southeast Asian and African countries.

The programme is a scheme of the Union human resource development ministry. It is aimed at promoting the higher education institutes in foreign countries, attracting students from there to join the Indian schools. Sources said the biggest advantage of attracting foreign students to join Indian institutes is it helps school concerned to make it financially strong.

Foreign students have to pay their course fees in dollars, allowing the institution concerned to earn extra. For instance, a foreign student taking admission to NIT-Patna would have to pay $7,000 a year, which is around Rs 4.2 lakh. Indian students, on the other hand, taking admission to NIT-Patna have to pay around Rs 65,000 a year.