Overseas education has always been a booming industry, and in billion-plus and burgeoning India, its effects can only be reaped. Surplus demand for the best domestic colleges, and unrealistically high entrance requirements, set off around 400,000 young Indians overseas in search of a more rounded education each year.
This throws opens a huge market for recruiters and foreign universities to tap into. But for Indian students, the Return-on-Investment in foreign education is an important and growing concern. Today, jobs and immigration top their agenda, as observed at any agent fair, trade exhibition, online or in the media. So how are the leading study destinations meeting their needs?
The UK’s economic backlash: the points-based system
The effect of reforms such as tougher English requirements for visa holders and the axing of the post study work (PSW) visa have hit Indian enrolments hard – they fell 24% in 2012, according to UCAS. Ravi Lochan Singh, MD of Global Reach, a pan-India career counselling service that offers advice in overseas education, believes the actual drop in fresh student visas issued could be as much as 55%. ”I have noticed newspaper articles that show the fall in UK “enrolments”…while I am talking of fresh student visas.”
According to Singh, Australia has shown the exact inverse growth, with a 55% rise in Indian student visa issuance.
What made studies in the UK most attractive to Indian students until a year ago, were single-year Masters programmes combined with a two-year work visa. That is now no longer available to students, who can be employed only by a licensed sponsor for roles earning a minimum salary of £20,000 per year.
That said, many of India’s political class and educated professionals living in India hold degrees from top institutions in the UK and there is the additional allure for many that the UK is a nexus for south Asian communities and often, family ties. Its appeal will not wane, but numbers who can afford to study without “safe” job prospects in the UK will decline.
“The UK cannot be expected to play home to students who are seeking a back-handed entry on the pretext of a degree”
But Natasha Chopra, head of mega-agency The Chopras, admits there was also an issue with abuse of the student route that had to be addressed. “Countries like the UK with a population of 65 million cannot be expected to play home to students who are seeking a back-handed entry into colleges on the pretext of a degree, paying the lowest of fees only to end up working in a garage or in small time fast food chains unrelated to their studies.”
And Navitas, a major university pathway providers that attracts many Indians to the UK each year, says the Indian market (the UK’s second biggest after China) remains vital; its agents visit India twice a year especially around peak student intakes. Sushant Sareen, India’s marketing manager for Navitas, shrugs off the impact of UK’s new visa rules, saying that the market and the Indian students now understand each other: “In fact this has regulated the quality of students we get.”
Canada: An Ageing Nation
As the UK shuts it doors, Canada is fast gaining a reputation for flexible migration rules. But there are multiple reasons why the maple leaf draws thousands of Indians students each year.
“Location matters,” explains Tania Sherwood, international recruitment manager for Humber College, Toronto, who visits her agents in New Delhi more than twice a year to help them counsel students looking for a Canadian education. “There is a big Indian community in Toronto. Lots of families are living there and most Indian students want to live close to home, and there is great transportation to be relied on.”
Humber is a Toronto-based community college with three campuses, having fast grown a reputation in India for its global business management programmes. “Indian agents know so much about Humber and Canada itself, over 20 years of relationship building, that I don’t think I am needed anymore unless as a face of goodwill in these parts,” says Sherwood.
“There is a big Indian community in Toronto”
Like Humber, there are over 90 other colleges in Canada that have upped their international engagement in the past few years. Of these, a niche group of 38 have piloted a partnership project called the Student Partners Programme (SPP) with Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s visa offices in India and China to fast-track their student visas.
Canadian community colleges do not lag far behind the better known universities. Building on specialised vocational expertise, a one-year diploma from a community college is Canada’s best offering for that ‘Canadian edge’ in the marketplace.
Fresh legislation allows students enrolled into a one-year programme at any Canadian educational institution, a one-year work permit, with the benefit of being allowed to apply for permanent residency subsequently. In fact, mere admission into a Canadian college gives students the right to apply for entry into the workforce. It is this parity and equal footing with other Canadians in the marketplace that makes studying in Canada rewarding for so many Indians.
Saurabh Malhotra manages the recruitment for Fanshawe College in India. He says that while just 14,000 Indian students went to Canada in 2012 (low compared to the 75,000 that chose Australia at its peak in 2009) there is much potential for this to rise. The caveat however is significant delays in visas processing times which still do clog the sector.
Globalised Germany
Already a popular country for providing education at ‘low or no’ tuition fees, a strong international focus, and offering diverse study options that are both theory and practice based, foreign postgraduates have even more reason to be thrilled by the increased number of English language courses on offer. Living costs are low too, at as little as €740 per month. Handsome scholarships are also offered across disciplines from automotive engineering (most popular) and public policy, to international media studies. [more>]
The German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD) office in New Delhi actively promotes weekly information sessions, hosts free webinars and follows up with Indians interested in research, PhD and study opportunities in Germany. What tips the Indian student market in Germany’s favour is that after completing their studies in Germany, Indians can now remain in Germany for 18 months, instead of previously 12 months and look for jobs in keeping with their qualifications.
The Netherlands: fresh territory
Close on the heels of Germany is the The Netherlands, a fast-growing study abroad destination for Indian students. There are over 800 Indian students currently studying there (increasing at an average 10-15 % in each of the last five years).
The Netherlands Education Support Offices in India are based in Ahmedabad and Chennai. Both education officers were highly optimistic about employment opportunities for students going to the Netherlands. “The Netherlands Government gives the students a period of one year, to look for a job. Most of the students do land up in jobs during this period, but some of them also pursue further studies (research) in the Netherlands or EU region,” said a spokesperson.
They may also benefit from the EU Blue Card programme that eases settlement for highly skilled migrants across the EU. A potential barrier is non-EU student tuition fees, however, which stand at around £5,000-£10,000 per annum – roughly equivalent to the UK’s.
Advantage USA: Technology Superpower
Over the decades, America – with the onset of the 90s’ dot-com boom – has been home to numerous of India’s technically inclined professionals. Skill shortages in the science and tech professions have helped make the US the number-one destination for Indians. Director of Research and Strategic Development at New York’s World Education Services, Dr Rahul Choudaha, outs this down to two primary factors –”social and financial”.
“At one level, the US commands a higher social prestige among Indians and at another level, it offers higher prospects of career advancement due to the IT industry,” he says.
“The 17-months OPT (Optional practical training) extension for STEM students came as a boon and many Indian students have leveraged this”
Nearly 60% of Indian students in the US are enrolled on a Master’s degree in STEM-related fields. A segment which finds pathways to work through the H1 visa route. Says Choudaha, “The 17-months OPT (Optional practical training) extension for STEM students came as a boon and many Indian students have leveraged this opportunity as seen in the growth of Indian students on OPT.
“This number has increased from nearly 11,000 to 27,000 students between 2007 to 2011 primarily due to the STEM visa.”
However, H1 visa numbers are capped and obtaining one can take time. Consensus is growing on easing the process but yet to become a reality. On the need for reform, Laszlo Bock, Google Inc’s senior vice president for people operations, recently wrote, “At a time when the US economy needs it most, our immigration policies are stifling innovation”.
Australia: post-study work rights
Indian student enrolments have tumbled over the last few years, spurred by the highly publicised racial attacks on Indian students in 2009, changes to the skilled migration program in 2010, and the broader issue of a persistently high dollar. However, Chopra today says Australia is rising again as an offer Indian students can’t ignore. Imminent extensions to the post-study work rules, allowing Bachelors and Masters students to remain and work for two and three years respectively, are offer a marked difference to what happened in the UK to its PSW visa.
Australia is rising again as an offer Indian students can’t ignore
“It is our job as agents to match students as closely to their outcomes, and place them in the right institution and destination in the first place,” she says. “Moreover, when it comes to post study jobs, it is the universities who should pitch in to help international students with their post-university expectations.”
Other agents too are capitalising on Australia’s reforms. According to Singh, previously Indian students were more vocationally driven, but nowadays pursue only proper degree programmes at universities, diplomas being out of the question. On the work rights he says: “In a way there are no guaranteed pathways to migration but Australia, being a migration-friendly country, will allow those with good English, the right age, a decent qualification and certainly employable, to find easier ways into the Australian job market.”
Singapore: Asia Inc.
The Asian city state of Singapore is said to be a hot sell for its cleanliness, safety, and proximity to home. The recognisable culture, ethnicities, languages, food are also draws. The state is also a hub of global finance and technology, and home to droves of Indian managers, accountants and entrepreneurs who were once students of Singapore’s well known private and state educational institutions.
Up until last year, Singapore’s Indian graduates could stay back up to a year after graduation to search for a job, but this was recently changed to a month. Despite this, agents say there has been little impact on students finding work — with a pool of about 7,000 private multinational businesses to approach, Indian graduates enjoy graduate employability of around 80% in Singapore’s vibrant, migrant economy.
Cracking the Indian market
Why Indians study abroad owes itself to “a complex interplay of variables, including job prospects, cost of education, availability of quality local programmes, social recognition and opportunities of immigration,” summarised Dr Choudaha, in a column for The Hindustan Times. From Delhi to DC, Kolkata to Canberra, Indian students will remain a dominant force in the international student market for some time to come, and the destinations that understand Indian motivation to better their prospects and become global citizens have plenty of opportunity to leverage the market.
