Enter bachelor’s degree in Mumbai, graduate abroad

Three years ago, 19-year-old Pratiksha Puri would never have imagined that securing an admission for a Bachelor of Mass Media degree in a city college would become her passport to foreign shores. As foreign universities look to cash in on the lucrative field of higher education in India, many top-notch colleges in the city are tying up with foreign universities for more than just student exchange programmes. The trend of top-up courses and twinning arrangements is picking up, especially for mainstream courses like arts, commerce, science, mass media and management, among others.

Hopping on the bandwagon
While the Foreign Education Providers Bill to allow foreign educational institutions to open up branch campuses in India remains stuck in Parliament, renowned colleges in the city are entering into twinning arrangements or offering top-up courses where students can go abroad either for the completion of their graduation degree — called the top-up year — or for pursuing a Master's degree.

Case in point, Jai Hind College, Churchgate, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bournemoth University in the UK to offer a first-of-its-kind top-up programme in Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM). "A tie-up between an Indian and foreign institute saves money that would otherwise have been spent in gaining a foreign education. At the same time, it opens up new avenues in terms of the joint degree that is awarded by both institutes, as well as the chance to complete at least some part of the course abroad," says 21-year-old Hemant Kumar who's currently looking to do an BMM from such an institute with a foreign tie-up.

Under this three-year degree programme, students can pursue their final year and Master's in the UK and graduate with a degree from the foreign university.  A new syllabus has been created incorporating the curricula of both institutions. "This is the first time we are giving students an opportunity to study a mainstream undergraduate programme abroad. Often, colleges enter into partnerships with foreign universities only for postgraduate or specialised programmes. So students who want to opt for generic courses like commerce, management or pure sciences tend to miss out on international exposure," said Kirti Narain, principal, Jai Hind College.

For those studying Arts, the college is also offering a global studies programme where students can study one term in Nottingham Trend University, UK. Furthermore, tie-ups with foreign universities for courses in bio-science, management, environmental management and computer science are also in the pipeline.

Similarly, St Xaviers College, Fort, has also partnered with University of Bath, UK to offer a top-up programme in biotechnology, where students can pursue their Master's degree at the UK campus. "Earlier, we only had short-term student exchange programmes with overseas universities, but now many foreign universities have started recognising our courses and allow credit transfer," said Frazer Mascarenhas, principal.
HR College of Commerce and Economics has a plethora of courses with different overseas universities like SP Jain Institute of Management in Singapore and Australia and New York University, which has opened a new campus in Abu Dhabi, for Bachelors in business administration (BBA).

Best of both worlds
Such programmes find traction with students since they get a chance to enjoy the best of both the worlds. Despite the staggering costs, the popularity of such programmes is on the upswing, as these colleges offer students part of such programmes with considerable tuition waivers and scholarships.
A BBA programme from DePaul University, USA offers a full tuition waiver for students of HR College.

"When we go to study abroad through such programmes, we are easily admitted due to the college brand name and receive many freeships and concessions which would otherwise not be accessible," said Saloni Kamgar, a banking and insurance student, HR College.

However, such programmes often require students to pay for their own trip abroad. But Narain adds, "The cost of such a course is almost double that of a similar programme conducted entirely in India. However, also worth considering is the fact that doing a similar programme abroad would have cost you almost four times as much!"

However, academicians advise students to tread with caution since such degrees might not always be a value addition to your resume. "The foreign returned students are not treated any differently when it comes to placements in India," admits a professor.