UAE students can study medicine in India for just Dh700 a year – here’s how

While cracking India’s fiercely competitive engineering and medical entrance exams remains a daunting challenge, students from the UAE are increasingly securing seats in reputed institutions, including IITs, NITs and government medical colleges, at fees that are often lower than monthly school tuition in the UAE.

Speaking during a spotlight session at Gulf News Edufair in Abu Dhabi, A. Ameen, Head of Operations at Unique World Education, said early preparation, structured coaching, regular mock tests and understanding admission pathways are helping Gulf-based non-resident Indian (NRI) students compete successfully in India’s highly competitive system.

“Students studying in the UAE can become IITians and doctors in India if they start preparing early and understand the admission pathways properly,” he said.

 “We have students who secured MBBS seats for as little as Rs18,000 (Dh690) per year,” he said.

Ameen spoke about the growing opportunities for Gulf students in IITs and IIITs, including the recently launched IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus.

Admissions to the Abu Dhabi campus happen through the Combined Admission Entrance Test (CAET) or JEE Advanced. “Students need to study Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics very well. They can either appear for CAET or qualify through JEE Advanced,” he explained, adding that the campus currently offers around 60 to 70 seats.

He said students aiming for IITs should begin preparation in Grade 11. “Preparation must begin in Grade 11 because JEE Main questions are based on both Grade 11 and Grade 12 concepts.”

Calling JEE one of the toughest entrance examinations globally, he noted that nearly 1.4 million students compete every year. “If students begin early, from Grade 11 onwards, the preparation becomes far less hectic,” he added.

For engineering aspirants, Ameen said admissions to prestigious National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are also accessible for Gulf students through the Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.

 “Indian students have a separate quota under this scheme, and the fee is not very high, around Rs85,000 per year,” he said, highlighting that there are 32 NITs across India.

 For medicine, admissions to government colleges are based on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), where competition remains intense. In 2025 alone, around 2.2 million students appeared for the examination for roughly 100,000 MBBS seats across India.

 “For government medical colleges with annual fees of around Rs18,000 to Rs20,000, students usually need scores between 660 and 700.”

He warned that a lower score can dramatically increase costs. “If a student scores around 550, they may only qualify for management quota seats, where fees can range between Rs800,000 and Rs1.5million annually.”

 Ameen also cautioned parents against assuming foreign medical education can bypass NEET rules. “Students may get admission abroad without NEET, but they cannot practise in India later,” he said, referring to the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) regulations that require NEET qualification for Indian licensing eligibility, adding, “Medicine graduates from countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are, however, treated differently under current recognition norms.”