Private varsity of punjab attracting African students

Jalandhar (Punjab): A private university here has seen an increase in the number of foreign students, especially from African countries like Nigeria, Tanzania and Congo who make up nearly one-fifth of its international students.

Currently, little over 250 students from nearly 16 such countries are studying at Lovely Professional University (LPU) - the region's first private varsity. Of them, around 50 are from African countries.

"Africa has emerged as a good source of students. For the first time, students from South Korea and Indonesia have come for studies in this part of the country. We consider our university as the next Takshila in making where students from across the globe come to study under one roof," said Mittal.

African students are very happy with the facilities in the campus and the hospitality of the locals.

"Coming to Punjab for studies is so far the best decision of my academic career. If I compare the infrastructure and other facilities provided to us with those in my country, this place is far better," said a Nigerian student who is doing engineering in computer science at the university.

Students from different African countries like Nigeria (25), Sudan (15), Congo (3), Kenya (3) and Tanzania (3) are studying at the LPU.

The campus is spread over 600 acres here and around 25,000 students are studying in this wi-fi enabled campus.

The Lovely group ventured into the education business in 2001, offering BBA, BCA, MBA and MCA courses. In 2003, they started working in the direction of establishing a university and in 2005 they finally got approval from the Punjab government.