Students prefer India over U.S. for higher study

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 09 January 2009, 02:14 IST   |    3 Comments
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Students prefer India over U.S. for higher study
Bangalore: Unpromising nature of U.S. economy now urges many Indian students to think twice before opting for admission in U.S. universities. The number of Indian students applying for various courses in the U.S. institutions is likely to come down by 20 percent in 2009, reported Deccan Chronicle. Bleak career prospects and appreciation of the dollar are the main reasons why the Indian students are not choosing U.S. for their higher studies. As per a study by Educational Testing Service (ETS), while 94,563 students from India joined various U.S. universities last year, the number is likely to come down to only 75,000 this year. Moreover, only 58,000 students are appearing for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) which is mandatory for post graduate engineering courses, this year. Last year it was 74,000 students. "Most of students travel to U.S. for higher education with an eye on landing a job there. But after the recession in the U.S. the career prospects there are not promising," said Ajay Arora, Director, Triumphant Institute of Management Education. Arora also said that the future for the Indian economy does not look as not as bleak as that of the U.S. and students are increasingly opting to pursue a career in the country. He is of the opinion that Indian universities are providing quality management education on par with any western university. Cost and career factors are influencing many students to pay more attention to CAT (IIMs entrance test) than GRE. The continuing depreciation of rupee against dollar will make education in the U.S. more costly for Indian students.