Study abroad: Brace for new normal

“Many countries are opening their borders for international students and implementing immigration-friendly policies to support this upward trend", says Ramananda S G

Hyderabad: While the Covid-19 changed the outlook of students looking to study abroad, but it has not been able to change the pulse of students. Many students are looking forward to getting enrolled in universities abroad and gain education through online learning. Among the countries, Canada is emerging as the most preferred destination as the country has recently opened its borders for international students who have valid study permit visa and are enrolled in a coronavirus-ready Designated Learning Institute (DLI), informed a top official of Pearson India.

Speaking about the various trends in the international education space, Pearson India sales and marketing V-P, Ramananda S G said, “Many countries are opening their borders for international students and implementing immigration-friendly policies to support this upward trend. As per Pearson’s Global Learners Survey, as a result of the pandemic, 80 per cent of students agree that higher education will fundamentally change. This change may not be permanent but has had disruptions that will change the preference and choices of students, planning to study abroad. The survey also noted that 86 per cent think that online learning will be a part of the university experience moving forward.”

On the various initiatives taken by Pearson India on supporting students, he said that they support students with the provision of a complete AI and computer-based English language proficiency test called PTE Academic. Pearson also launched Pearson Classroom – a fully online teacher-driven student success platform for high-stakes English exams.

“To keep the learning curve intact, we started with training teachers to enable them to teach in an online environment. We were able to train over 10,000 teachers and imbibe them with the skills essential for teaching online. We launched ‘ActiveApp’ as a training resource for teachers and interactive learning solutions for students during the lockdown. We also introduced Quikik, which is an AI-based math learning app for children to help students reinforce their Math skills,” he said.

Hyderabad market

On the Hyderabad market, the vice-president informed that the region is seeing year on year uptick in students going abroad for studies. He informed that on average 35,000 students every year go abroad for studies from Hyderabad and approximately 35,000 people go for immigration. “It has also been witnessed that students are opting for various diploma and post-graduate programs in Information Technology, Management and Masters in information services. Along with Canada, the UK, Australia followed by the US is also seeing significant numbers of students outflow from Hyderabad,” he said.

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