India second in Google search on education

A recent study by Google India has revealed that India ranks second after the US in the absolute volume of search queries related to education on Google search.

The study — Students on the web — further revealed that more than 60% of Indian students who have access to the Internet, use it as their first source to research information related to educational courses and institutes. IT/vocational courses are most searched for, followed by engineering and MBA schools. The study also found that students spend an average of five to six months on research, before finalising the institute they want to join.

The study was compiled by combining the Google search query patterns and an offline research conducted by TNS Australia on behalf of Google India. The offline research included 2,229 respondents, out of which 52% were female and 48% were male.

The respondents were between 18 to 35 years of age. The study covered 7 cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad & Bangalore.

The offline research has concluded that placements offered by an institute is the most important criteria for selecting an institute with 56% of the response being positive. This is followed by the quality of faculty (49%), course content (48%), reputation of the institute (43%) and fees (41%). 

The study also reports that students want the educational institutes to have more mobile-friendly websites as over 66% said they use their mobile phones to access the content. Interestingly, 46% of the respondents said they choose to watch videos as part of their research about educational institutes. The study reports that 56% respondents wanted to watch videos on career options/placements, 44% respondents wanted to watch videos on faculty, 29% on existing students and alumni and 27% to help them take more informed decisions.

Rajan Anandan, VP and managing director of Google India said, “With over 60 million Internet-user population in India being in the age group of 18 to 35, educational-related search queries are exploding on Google. Our core objective behind compiling this study was to understand the impact Internet is having on this young population with regard to education related decision making by the students.”