US allays fear of Indian students

NEW DELHI: With the shooting at the Virginia Tech university sending shockwaves among students here, the United States on Wednesday fielded an Indian-American scientist, an alumnus of the institute to allay fears about pursuing studies there.

Terming the shooting that killed 32 students as an 'aberration' and an 'isolated incident', Satish Kulkarni the science counsellor at the American Embassy here said that such occurrences will not discourage students from going to the US.

Kulkarni, who did his PhD research at the Virginia Tech University between 1969-72, said the American universities have adequate security arrangements.

"There is a balance between too much security and too much openness at the universities in the United States," he said.

Kulkarni, who had his office in the same building where the shooting took place, said "I could visualise what could have happened in the whole process."

He said he had not met Prof GV Loganathan who was killed in the incident but had heard about him from Sanjay Dhande, the Director of IIT, Kanpur, where he had studied.

51-year-old Loganathan, an alumnus of IIT, Kanpur, was among the 32 people killed in a shooting in the American univeristy.

Famed for its technical courses, the university is the much sought after institution by the Indian student community who make a beeline for pursuing their subjects of interest.

Indian students form the biggest group of foreign students pursuing higher studies in the US. In 2005-06, 76,503 Indian students were studying at various institutes in the US, while 480 are studying at the Virginia Tech university.