Foreign students make a beeline for Indian jobs
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 03:21 Hrs   |    6 Comments
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Foreign students make a beeline for Indian jobs
Bangalore: With the job scenario being dull in Europe and the U.S., many foreign students are heading to work or intern in India, reports Economic Times. Sunghoon Kim, an MBA student from Rotman School of Management, Canada, is interning at Infosys, as part of the instep programme. "The job market in Canada is not good. I think I will go to Korea or India, which are emerging fast and have better opportunities," says Sunghoon. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is offering internships to foreign graduates for a 12 month period. "Over 50 students from overseas universities underwent internship at TCS in FY09, up from 20 in FY08," said Ajoy Mukherjee, Vice President and Head, Global HR, TCS. Over 11,000 professionals of foreign origin from 67 nationalities work in TCS. MindTree's Senior Vice-President (HR), Punnet Jaitley says, "We are seeing a 25 percent increase in the number of foreign students joining Mindtree for internships because it is difficult to get internships in the U.S. and UK due to the global economic crisis." Students from universities like MIT, John Hopkins, Glassgow and Houston University are homing in on India. Ravi C Dasgupta, Group Head, HR Biocon says, "We also get students from top B-Schools in the U.S." Simultaneously, the number of Indian students going abroad has fallen. Some 80,000-90,000 students go abroad annually for higher studies. Kamal Wadhera, CEO, TCYonlione.com, which prepares students for overseas education exams says, "We have been seeing a 15 percent dip in terms of students preparing for GMAT and GRE." Indian B-schools too are seeing a spike in demand for postgraduate placements. The Indian School of Business (ISB) this year has seen a 24 percent rise in the number of admissions for its 2010 batch compared to last year. Prasad Kapia, Executive Director (CLIC), ISB says, "There has been an increase in the number of foreign students and Indian students preferring to study in India, the trend is now moving towards India and other emerging economies, where students are finding better opportunities."