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After US, UK too loses charm among Indian subcontinent students

An official UK report confirms that enrollment of Indian students dropped by 23.5% in a year, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh students also bucked UK.

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It’s official now. No mad rush among Indian subcontinent students for United Kingdom Universities anymore. The number of Indian students going to UK saw a sharp decline of 23.5% in just one year, reveals a report released by High Education Statistics Agency (HESA), UK on January 10. Enrolment from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also saw a decline of 13.4%, 6% and 14% respectively.

In 2010-11, over 39,090 Indian students were enrolled in UK varsities, says the HESA report. Only 29,900 students were enrolled in 2011-12 which was 23.5% less as compared to previous year. After a 12-fold rise in last 12 years, this is the first time UK has seen a drop in Indian students. Study abroad consultants have been indicating the trend for past one year.

“The number of Chinese domicile students at UK institutions continued to grow, while the number of Indian and Pakistan domicile students fell for the first time,” says the report. Indian students form second biggest contingent of International students in UK (9%) after China.

UK announced abolishing Tier1 post-study-work visa in 2011 which allowed Indian and non-European Country students to take up a job in UK for two years after the study. Besides, delicate economy and high un-employability rate in Europe and US are other factors behind poor turnout in South Asian countries.

Eric D’Souza, student of an Engineering College in Mumbai who opted to study in India after making several enquiries with UK and US varsities, said, “Depreciation of rupee made education loan unaffordable to my parents. I preferred Indian campus.”

Indian students going to US declined by 3.5% in 2011-12, revealed the ‘Open Doors report” released by US in November 2012. There was 1% decline in Indian students a year before after a decade of consistent rise. Over 2.5 lakh Indian students choose to study abroad every year. US share in this figure is 55 per cent. The other Indian subcontinent countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka also saw a decline in students going to US.

“Students who passed the GRE and TOEFEL tests with good score also refused to go due to high dollar and pound cost. Big UK varsities which use to admit 300-350 students till 2010 got only 40-50 students in 2011 and 2012. Students prefer Germany, New Zealand and Canada,” says an education consultant.

Karan Gupta, another education consultant says, “Students now think that India has a future. So, it’s better to study and work here for better prospects as compared to crisis-driven Europe and US.”
 

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