The trend of going abroad for education is back in Gujarat. According to experts, the number of students choosing to go abroad has increased by roughly 40% as compared to last year. Recession seems to have left these students unaffected.
Canada is the winner for the most popular destination for higher studies this year. According to Mansi Mehta, working in a student consultancy firm in University Road, nearly 40-50% of her total queries and applicants are about the country.
"The reason for this is that Canadian Universities offer a diploma, after which they provide a work permit. There is also the Student Partnership Programme (SPP) which makes the whole visa process much easier. We have an almost 95% success rate for Canadian visa." There was a 280% increase in the number of students choosing Canada in 2010.
Germany is also counted amongst the popular destinations with the government offering scholarships and the fees being waived. Relaxed work permits are also one of the contributing factors.
Australia has also picked up considerably. Until last year, Australia was a no-no due to racial problems and visas were also stopped, said Devang Solanki, a city-based student consultant.
Among the previous favourites, UK has suffered considerably. Last years statistics show that there was a fall of 77% in the popularity. Reasons that have led to this fall are the restrictions on students visa and the huge number of Indian students already there.
"People are finding it difficult to even get a part-time job now," said Solanki. To make things easier, the British Council has decided to add a visa stall in the upcoming UK education fair.
The US has also suffered, mainly because of the slowdown that has hit the American markets. This has led to a difficulty in getting jobs.
In terms of subjects, information technology, business and engineering are the most preferred. Experts within the field agree that this year the interest in destinations have been better as compared to last year. On an average, consultancy firms are getting around 5,000-10,000 applicants in a month from within the state.
