Soaring Delhi University cut-offs force students to explore foreign options
With cut-offs soaring to almost 100 per cent in Delhi University colleges, NCR students are exploring educational options abroad. The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are popular education destinations for students who fail to make the cut in the DU, which offers less than 60,000 undergraduate seats every year.
Mrinalini Batra of International Educational Exchange, a career-counselling firm, said there has been a phenomenal increase in admissions to foreign universities since 2010-12. “During the 90s, 80 per cent students used to opt for engineering and the rest were for MBA with few opting for undergraduate courses. But due to high cut-offs in top universities like Delhi University, there has been more awareness about various courses taught abroad. Due to this, there has been an upward surge in UG courses as well,” she said.
Constantly topping the list of world’s best universities and the most preferred destination of the students for three decades is the US. According to a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) report, the number of students from India studying in the US grew from 148,360 in March 2015 to 194,438 in March 2016, an increase of 31.1 per cent. There were about 103,000 Indian students in the US in the academic year 2013-14, more than double the number of students 15 years ago.
“About 82 per cent of F (academic) and M (vocational) students from India pursue degrees in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field. More STEM students are from India than any other country,” the report said.
The universities in Western nations have become an alternate option not only because of the high quality education but also due to the opportunities they provide to the students. “In the schools I consult, around 30-40 per cent of the children apply for courses in the US primarily because it is easier to get admission there than in India. The guarantee of a world-class education and wide variety of research-centric science and technology courses is also what drives students from Delhi,” said co-founder of New Delhi-based Admissions Gateway, Rajdeep Chimni.
Even Canada and New Zealand have witnessed significant increase in students seeking admission from India, especially Delhi and Maharashtra. “This is because of the number of colleges and universities and the large variety of courses they offer. Not only are overseas programmes and departments more prestigious, they also have far better facilities, laboratories and a more favourable cultural research programme. Even the number of scholarships awarded to Indian students have gone up,” a senior education consultant said.
The UK has witnessed a decrease in the number students after visa curbs were imposed. Naveen Chopra, founder and chairman of The Chopras, an overseas education consultant, said in the short term, students would benefit from cheaper fees due to weak pound. “While students will have an advantage from a cost perspective, it will get tougher for those who are keen to work there and take up jobs. Student traffic to the UK from India is expected to drop further due to this. This could see some temporary relief till the pound is depreciating. Long-term impact of Brexit on overseas student visa norms is still to be seen,” he said.
Till two years ago, only 15 per cent of business came from undergraduates, Piyush Aggarwal of Abroad Education Consultants said, but this number has risen to 40 per cent now. “Today parents from North India, especially Delhi, wish to send their children abroad for undergraduate studies because of the high quality of education there. In spite of having good universities and colleges in Delhi, there are students who are unable to get through their desired college so what else is better than pursuing the desired option in a foreign university,” Mr Aggarwal said.
