The economic downturn and reports of racial discrimination is radically altering the choices of Indians going abroad for education.
The losers are the US and Australia, while the UK with a 70% rise in the number of Indian students over the past year, has emerged as the clear winner, owing primarily to its proximity and well-reputed colleges. Last year, this growth was just 20%. Experts have noticed that a higher number of Indian students are taking up courses in media, fashion designing and architecture.
Suchita Gokarn, head, education promotion India, British Council, said that internationally-recognised courses offered by the universities are what is luring the students in droves. “Indian students go to the UK for the quality of education, and also for the recognised courses offered. We cannot correlate this spurt to the economic downturn, but it could be one of the contributing factors,” said Gokarn. Last year, there were only 26,000 students in the UK. The number has gone up to 44,000. On the other hand, the rise in Indian students going to the US this year was just 9.2%, according to a survey by Open Doors, an agency which reports on international student mobility.
Bharati Gandhi, director of Youngbuzz, a career counselling agency, feels that the UK and Singapore have attracted most of the students who might have otherwise gone to Australia, or the US. “Nowadays, parents fear sending their children to far-off places. We have come across many parents who state this as one of the reasons for sending their children to UK instead of the US. Also, UK universities offer all the courses available in the US, and some of their courses, like the one in Law, are also recognised in India,” she
said.
There is an increasing demand for courses in media, fashion designing and architecture. “Though the traditional courses like business and management, IT, engineering, biosciences, biotechnology and law are in demand, these new courses are catching up fast,” said Gokarn.
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