There are about 325,000 students studying overseas with more than 100,000 choosing to go abroad each year.
NEW DELHI: Many students who were planning to study overseas have been forced to change their plans — delaying them or giving them up to study locally — because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vaibhav Lakhotia from Kolkata had applied to UK and Canada colleges to pursue undergraduate courses in financial and business economics. He’s now filling up forms for programmes in Indian colleges such as Christ University in Bengaluru and NMIMS and SP Jain in Mumbai.
“My parents are panicking to send me outside the country due to the pandemic. They are concerned about my safety and want me to study in India,” said Lakhotia, a class 12 student at DPS Megacity, Kolkata. Almost all his friends are applying for Indian colleges and have given up pursuit of foreign degrees.
Others are opting for a year’s break, according to education experts at EY Parthenon and Technopak. Financial constraints are also being considered.
Apart from education experts, ET also spoke to firms such as Collegedekho, Collegify and Yocket, which help Indian students to gain admission, mostly in foreign institutes. The admission process usually begins in September at most foreign colleges with final acceptances being sent in by around April-May.
According to EY, there are about 325,000 Indian students studying overseas with more than 100,000 choosing to go abroad each year. “Roughly 50-60% students are dropping plans to study abroad this year due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic,” said Amitabh Jhingan, partner, EY Parthenon International Education Practice.
Almost 70% of Indian outbound students go for postgraduate programmes. A bulk of them are opting for deferrals this year, given uncertainties about employment prospects.
Students are uncertain about the academic year and no one knows how long Covid-19’s impact will last, said Saloni Nangia, president, Technopak. “While international colleges offer online classes, children study overseas to live and experience the campus and colleges they enrol into,” said Nangia.
Students joining foreign campuses mostly have two options.
One is to start with an online fall semester and start going to college in the spring, assuming campuses open up by then. Alternatively, they could defer admission to next spring or fall, according to Adarsh Khandelwal, director, Collegify.
Some 20-30% of 50,000 students registered with Collegedekho may cancel plans, while the rest delay joining. “Students are worried return on investment after studying in a foreign university may not be worth the effort,” said Collegedekho CEO Ruchir Arora. “If things do not improve by September, there could be more students cancelling their plans to study abroad,” said Sumeet Jain, cofounder, Yocket.
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