Kolkata, Nov 30 (IANS): The US-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) will be setting up Nehru Chairs in US varsities to enhance interaction not just within the academia but also to engage with the community at large.

"Recently we have seen a drop of about 15 per cent in the inbound students to India from the US. We are trying to reach out to universities in India and bridge this gap," said Diya Dutt, Deputy Director, of USIEF said.

IIT Kharagpur and the USIEF organised a two-day joint workshop for universities in Eastern India themed -- Igniting Interest to Study in India: Best Practices to Attract Foreign Students on Your Campus.

The workshop brought together eastern India's top universities to explore best practices which can ignite interest of foreign students to study in India

USIEF promotes mutual understanding between the nationals of India and the US through the educational exchange of outstanding scholars, professionals and students.

The organisation has the mandate to hold outreach workshops to promote both the inbound and outbound flow of students between the two countries.

USIEF has been awarding Fulbright, Fulbright-Nehru, and other prestigious grants and scholarships in almost every academic discipline.

IIT Kharagpur, which is extensively promoting its international outreach to bring in more foreign students for degree and non-degree programmes, has already set up a robust international relations mechanism to attract more number of students.

"We have launched various scholarship programmes funded by the Institute and alumni especially for SAARC, ASEAN and African students which has increased our international student enrolment significantly," said Associate Dean International Relations Anandaroop Bhattacharya.