Lucknow, June 13 : About 1,200 students from 60 countries have applied for admission in the Lucknow University (LU) in the undergraduate and postgraduate courses for the academic session 2023-2024. This is the highest ever number of applications from foreign students for admission to the LU. These students will be admitted through Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) student scholarship programme. While students from Japan want to study political science, Chinese students want to learn Hindi. Similarly, students from Malaysia have shown interest in Urdu while those from other countries want to pursue management studies. Unlike previous, this year LU will have richer student diversity as foreign students, not just from African and Asian countries but from all parts of the world have shown interest to study here. In 2021, only 371 foreign students had applied for admission which further witnessed a whooping increase in 2022 when LU became a choice of around 800 students while this year for the first time, University crossed the 1,000 mark. An LU official said that the increase in the number of applications from foreign students will help LU score higher national and international level rankings in which extra marks are awarded to an institute for having a rich student diversity. Also, the university will score well in public perception criteria as a good image amongst academic institutions is what has made LU a choice of foreign students. Also, over Rs 1 crore fees is received from these students which helps LU in managing its financial challenges. LU spokesperson Durgesh Srivastava said, "The main reason behind the surge in foreign student application is the University's research work getting international recognition with a number of our teachers getting patents, producing high impact factor research papers, prestigious fellowships and international projects. Also, an A++ grade by the National Assessment Accreditation Council has put a stamp on University's academic excellence." /IANS