International students are an asset to the cause of peace-building. However, during wars and pandemics their security becomes a critical concern, as witnessed in the cases of Ukraine and, more recently Iran and West Asia. During the recent India visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, an ambitious project to welcome 30,000 Indian students to France by 2030 made headlines. According to the NITI Aayog, for every international student who comes to India, twenty-five Indian students leave the country in search of better educational destinations. This represents a serious deficit in India’s public diplomacy. Any attempt to promote India as a global educational destination must involve attracting more students from neighbouring countries to foster regional understanding. Such engagement would also help India prepare better for hosting students from other parts of the world.

At the 1957 Moscow Conference of Workers and Communist Parties, Mao Zedong declared that the “East wind will prevail over the West.” However, the reality is that the East has not fully risen while the West refuses to retreat. The contemporary world is becoming increasingly complex, and state sovereignty faces unprecedented challenges. A fundamental principle of international relations is that “all geopolitics is local,” meaning that foreign policy and global power shifts are ultimately driven by domestic political dynamics. Traditionally, diplomacy has been dominated by state-to-state relations, but this has gradually evolved with the emergence of public diplomacy, where media, academia, sports, and cultural exchanges play significant roles in building durable international partnerships. Such engagement represents a more professional way to cultivate peace constituencies and international understanding.

Even today, despite strict immigration regimes, students and scientists continue to migrate toward Western countries. If India aspires to become a major destination for international students, it must engage seriously with issues of pluralism, accommodation, and tolerance, while attracting greater numbers of students from neighbouring countries. Former National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan recently remarked that in the current world order India appears as a “virtual onlooker and an outlier.” In this context, it is necessary to examine the decline of the South Asian University in Delhi, an institution that India could have leveraged to promote itself as an attractive educational destination for students from neighbouring countries.

South Asian University

Established in 2010 in New Delhi, the South Asian University was envisioned as an international university of SAARC member states to promote regional understanding and cooperation. It was intended to function as a secular, English-language institution representing the intellectual spirit of South Asia. Running such an institution required a genuinely South Asian outlook and a spirit of parity and equality among participating nations.

However, due to administrative failures and financial stress, the university today is only a shadow of what it was originally meant to be. Many scholars associated with the institution since its inception feel disappointed with its management style. The mandatory student ratio representing different South Asian countries has been breached, and increasingly India-centric courses have been introduced. Some academics argue that the university’s cultural and social outlook has become overtly North Indian, creating discomfort even among students from other regions of India. Ironically, the decline of this ambitious project coincides with scholarly debates about the “end of South Asia” as a coherent regional idea.

The End of South Asia

In the late twentieth century, South Asian leaders recognized the importance of regional groupings such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union in overcoming historical conflicts and building people-to-people solidarity. The idea of a South Asian regional organization was initially proposed by Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh and subsequently received intellectual and political support from leaders across the region.

In an article titled “The End of South Asia” published in Foreign Affairs on July 22, 2024, scholar Happymon Jacob argues that “the dream of a united South Asia is over, with important implications for the geopolitics of the subcontinent that we have yet to grasp.” According to him, New Delhi does not always perceive the value of strong regional institutions, as such structures may not necessarily reinforce India’s predominance. Furthermore, sections of India’s strategic establishment have historically been sceptical about the benefits of regional integration.

Jacob also notes that India’s expanding and increasingly prosperous middle class—estimated at around 430 million people—often believes that the country is destined for larger global ambitions rather than being constrained by conflicts in its immediate neighbourhood. After examining India’s strategic options, Jacob suggests that “a wiser option for New Delhi would be to think more broadly and see South Asia as only a part of its neighbourhood rather than the entirety of it.” Nevertheless, critics fear that such a strategic shift may inadvertently provide greater opportunities for China to expand its influence.

China and the Dragon’s Reach

A 2020 report by the Brookings Institution titled “Is India Still the Neighbourhood’s Education Hub?” suggests that India is losing its appeal among South Asian students, who are increasingly choosing China for higher education. The report highlights that the annual growth rate of South Asian students in India declined from 30 percent in the 2011–12 academic year to just 9 percent in 2018–19. In contrast, the number of students from India’s neighbouring countries studying in China increased by 176 percent between 2011 and 2016.

China’s competitive advantages—including affordability, superior infrastructure, and a globally recognized higher education system—have contributed to this shift. Why India is not an attractive destination is a matter that needs greater attention? Political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta offered a compelling formulation in a different context when he wrote: “India is an open society with a closed mind, and China a closed society with an open mind.”

In light of the Brookings report’s findings, two policy measures could help India attract more students from neighbouring countries.

First, India should provide greater opportunities to high-quality private universities—such as Ashoka University, Azim Premji University, and O. P. Jindal Global University—to admit larger numbers of students from neighbouring countries. Some of these institutions already run joint academic programmes with universities across the region.

Second, as a long-term policy initiative, India may consider developing a specialized neighbourhood-focused foreign service cadre to deepen its understanding of opportunities in its immediate and extended neighbourhood, including West and Central Asia. A reset in India’s neighbourhood diplomacy is essential. Proactive engagement with neighbouring countries can strengthen regional cooperation and enhance India’s educational and cultural influence.

In an increasingly interconnected yet conflict-prone world, international students play a crucial role in fostering dialogue, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding among nations. If India aspires to become a global educational hub and a stabilizing regional power, it must invest seriously in inclusive policies, institutional reforms, and proactive regional engagement to attract and protect international students.

Prof Wani is Kashmir based Political Scientist

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