Overview
- Addressing reports of a $100,000 annual H‑1B application fee announced by President Donald Trump, he said India should not be swayed by such shocks.
- He said India has about 50 million higher‑education students with roughly one million studying overseas, underscoring a focus on building capacity at home.
- Citing Chandrayaan engineers as largely non‑IIT graduates, he argued that innovation spans state universities as well as IITs and NITs.
- He rejected using China as a policy model for bringing back overseas students, stressing India’s liberal‑democratic approach.
- He defended the UGC’s 2025 draft regulations on vice‑chancellor appointments while noting more than 1,500 submissions are under review.