Students prep to fly abroad for higher studies

Hyderabad: After a lull due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students are making a beeline to pursue higher education in universities abroad. This comes in the wake of several countries relaxing travel restrictions, opening visa windows and granting visas to prospective students in view of the receding of the pandemic. Several students have started to look […]

Hyderabad: After a lull due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students are making a beeline to pursue higher education in universities abroad. This comes in the wake of several countries relaxing travel restrictions, opening visa windows and granting visas to prospective students in view of the receding of the pandemic.

Several students have started to look at their dream universities in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland etc., with the US continuing to be a top destination for higher education for many. Those candidates who got admissions in fall intake have landed in the US universities and many are preparing to fly for the spring intake.

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Although several foreign universities are ensuring their on-campus students are vaccinated against coronavirus, outbound students are taking no chances and are getting vaccinated. In fact, the State government had conducted a special drive for students who were to fly for their higher education in foreign universities.

“Given the intensity of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, I deferred my plans of pursuing MS. Now, I got admission into MS -Data Science at the University of Tennessee, US, for spring intake,” said Sri Harsha, a student.

The STEM programmes continue to attract a large number of Indian students to the international universities. Most of these students are taking up courses in MS with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber security, and Data Science. With the governments focusing on building the infrastructure, several students are also opting for specializations like structural engineering, construction management, and environmental engineering. This apart, supply chain management and fintech at the master’s level are also attracting the students

“After a slowdown in the admissions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, now, students are geared up to head for universities abroad for their higher education. Not just for master programmes, students are also joining various undergraduate courses. This time, we have sent the largest number of students to various universities in the US, apart from Canada and Ireland,” said V Ajaya Kumar, director, IMFS.

According to Sumeet Jain, Co-founder, Yocket, a platform for study abroad aspirants, current sentiments among the students were positive.

“The changes in administration have brought in a lot of positivity and the vaccination drive and subsequent opening up has instilled confidence in the US. The US has seen highest interest among STEM students. Canada and the UK have been getting good interest from north India specifically. Australia and New Zealand have seen a dip in student’s interest due to continuing restrictions. The US numbers might be at an all-time high for the 2022 year,” Sumeet Jain said.

“If I talk about Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, then students have been traditionally interested in the US and the past few years saw a decline due to the administration. This time the confidence is back and the US is the most favoured for students from this region,” he added.