Sign up

Have some pie!

India: 61% likely to defer if online offered

A survey of 850 Indian students using the popular Shiksha study abroad platform in India reveals that 50% could consider deferring their study plans – chief of their concerns about the impact of Covid-19 is the impact on jobs & salaries, followed by impact on personal health.

Indian students do not, in general, intend to cancel their plans completely, says Shiksha. Photo: Alessandro Bonvini/Flickr

Concerns about quality of online education - 35% extremely concerned - are at play

The survey paints a picture of a student cohort that is still intent on their academic plans, but decisions about deferring and concerns about quality of online education (35% extremely concerned) are at play.

“Aspirants preferring US/Canada are more convinced of their choice of country”

Of those 2020 aspirants polled, just over 40% were “not at all likely” to cancel their plans completely but nearly 50% were very likely to see how the situation evolves.

Interestingly, students’ views on if they would defer when the alternative is online study varied quite significantly according to their intended destination.

A much higher percentage of respondents who are interested in Australia said they would be likely to defer to the next intake (78%).

This compared to only 54% who indicated they would postpone or defer when headed to Canada.

According to Shiskha, this could be due to the availability of some courses in Oct-Nov intake or due to the requirement of high upfront deposit amount.

Overall, 61% said they would defer to a future intake if online is the alternative; with 13% cancelling plans if online classes are offered.

Vivek Jain, chief business officer, said, “As we can see, the survey clearly shows a likely change in student’s choice of the country due to the current situation.

“Students are more likely to shift away from Australia and New Zealand while aspirants preferring US/Canada are more convinced of their choice of country.”

Jain observed that the majority of students are not abandoning study abroad plans.

“I expect the number of students going abroad for higher studies to see a temporary decline and again increase after the fears subside,” he said. “My suggestion will be not to panic and stick to long-term plans.”

Shiksha is a college research website for Indian study abroad aspirants. Between 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020, the site says it received 16 million online visits, with 192,000 active registered students.

Related articles

Still looking? Find by category:

Add your comment

4 Responses to India: 61% likely to defer if online offered

  1. Most of the students from India who come to do their bachelors or masters degree programs in US universities would have availed student loans from India (their home town) for the entire duration of the course. One of the conditions of student loan is the fact that the student needs to show proof of air ticket, proof of campus class room attendance for on-site course at recognized US University campus. If there were to be online course starting in fall 2020 then the loan in US Dollars may not get approved in India

  2. Its difficult in India to get an educational loan unless they have a proof of on site classes from respective countries…so the best way for international universities to avoid online classes as 100% Indian students studying abroad have educational loans…may be they can have online classes back home..

  3. It is not feasible for students to attend online classes here in india because of following major reasons
    1 time difference , if students have to attend online here classes will be in the night time somewhere starting between 8pm to 9pm and it will continue late night everyday, even online classes are feasible only who are studying theoretical subjects to some extent how come engg. Technical trade skill or medical courses and courses related to science can be studied online where laboratory work and workshops are of paramount importance
    2. Majority of the students especially in my province(punjab) including me are living in countryside here 3g connections are not even stable forget about 4g speed
    3. I don’t need to explain about electricity cuts especially in this season of rice farming electricity cuts are more often
    4. Above all paying 15 to 20 thousand dollars for online classes is not worth if we wants to learn by watching videos there are plenty of options available in india and that is with little amount of money why should i pay thousands of dollars for online study in technical stream my course is welding and fitting how come my college teach ke such course online 90% of my syllabus is practical stuff , ircc can’t put every student under the table ,sorry

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Disclaimer: All user contributions posted on this site are those of the user ONLY and NOT those of The PIE Ltd or its associated trademarks, websites and services. The PIE Ltd does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by users.
PIENEWS

To receive The PIE Weekly with our top stories and insights, and other updates from us, please

SIGN UP HERE