With increasing numbers of programmes of higher learning being taught in English, Germany has emerged as one of the most favoured destinations for Indian students.
German institutes of higher learning are now offering more than 1,000 international degree programmes in the English and this has appealed to the Indian students who are making a beeline to study in Germany.
The number of Indian doctoral students studying in Germany has increased 20-fold in the last decade and in 2009, more than 1,000 students were pursuing their doctoral studies in German institutions.
The number of Indian guest scientists at the Max Planck Institute has doubled in the last five years with more than 600 Indian guest researchers and scientists and post doctorates at the Max Planck Institutes. In fact with 178 scientists, India represents the largest number of foreign participants at the International Max Planck Research Schools.
A recent British Council survey confirms that Germany has beaten Australia, UK and China as being the most favoured destination in the higher education arena.
In order to make Germany a more friendly destination, the German Parliament is expected to adopt a bill to implement a EU “Blue Card” permit whereby foreign graduates in German universities are provided unrestricted access to the job market and their spouses will be eligible for work permits during the period of their stay.
To further this exchange, the Indo-German research dialogues in the life sciences, Prof. Axel A. Brakhage highlighted that scientists need to learn and collaborate from each other.
This point of view was confirmed by Dr Seyed E. Hasnain, professor of Biological Sciences at IIT Delhi has specialised in the epidemiology of TB and is the first recipient of the Robert Koch Fellowship.
Prof. Rajendra Prasad with the School of Life Sciences, JNU, is a Humboldt fellow who has specialised in fungal infections, which constitute an ever-growing medical problem. “We have been collaborating for more than two decades with scientists from the universities of Bonn, Wurzburg and Dusseldorf to look into the entire spectrum of fungi infection in human beings,” he said.