Coronavirus pandemic | Foreign education plans of Indian students go for a toss

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Sourabh Panigrahi had been nurtured his 'American education' dream for the past five years. In 2020, he was hoping to join a technology institute in the US. But the COVID-19 outbreak has forced him to drop his plans.

"I will opt for an Indian engineering school because things are uncertain with studying abroad right. Even if classes begin online, what is the guarantee that things will resume soon? And the joy of studying abroad is to be at the campus and experience college life there," he said.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, studying in colleges abroad has almost come to a standstill for Indian students. Overseas education consultants said that uncertainty around resumption of physical classes and fears of re-infection are forcing students to re-think their decision.

Study abroad consultants told Moneycontrol that a revival of activities is possible only January 2021. However, by then, a portion of the academic calendar would be over and not all students are eager to pursue new programmes online.

On one hand, while regions like Australia, New Zealand and Japan could see higher interest from 2021 onwards, consultants said that US and UK could fall out of favour for the time-being.

Currently, almost 1 million Indian students are estimated to be studying across universities in US, UK, Europe, Australia and parts of South-East Asia. This is across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

However, fears of COVID-19 infection is now halting new plans of pursuing education abroad. Foreign universities themselves are in a ‘wait-and-watch’ mode.

Naveen Chopra, Chairman of overseas education consultant The Chopras said, "We are anticipating that July intake for Australia and New Zealand will not happen. When it comes to the September intake for institutions in US, UK, Canada and Europe as well, it is very unlikely to happen. Physical intake of campus will only be from January 2021. Because of this the global education business other than online courses will see an impact for another 7-8 months.”

While consultants said that some applications are still being filed, it is because these candidates are not aware of the time-line right now. Considering faculty and student safety, it is likely that foreign universities will wait for a few months even after the risks of COVID-19 get reduced.

Also Read: Live updates from COVID-19 outbreak in India

A Mumbai-based education consultant said that countries like US, China and UK are expected to take the biggest hit as far as international student intake is concerned.

“A stigma has been attached to visiting certain countries due to Coronavirus. Hence, both students and their parents/guardians are deferring study abroad decisions. Even a few individuals who are firm on going abroad may see a reduction in their chances because of delay in result declarations in India,” he added.

How are global universities responding?

Large educational institutes in US, Europe and other parts of the world are taking a re-look at the admission deadlines. Some flexibility would be given for students from abroad who are applying for undergraduate courses in the form of provisional admissions without the need to submit the final marksheet.

Ravneet Pahwa, Deputy Vice President (Global Engagement) and CEO (South Asia) of Australia’s Deakin University told Moneycontrol that the university has allocated $25 million to support its international students. This, she said, will enable students to continue with their education.

“For new students, we have started Deakin degrees online. While being in their home country itself, these students can start their education and enroll in a few subjects rather than wasting time. Their credits will be transferred to their on-campus education as soon as it opens up,” she added.

Australia usually enrolls new students in July every year. But this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak, no new physical enrollments are being done. About 100,000 Indians study in Australia.

Pahwa added that Deakin is doing provisional enrollment of students where they can provide the final college marksheets before a cut-off date in August. If a student does not wish to continue or has seen a delay in result declaration, there is also a provision for 100 percent refund of the fee paid for the subjects studied online.

“Overall, COVID-19 has impacted the inflow of international students into Australia. Hopefully the situation will improve by the end of this year,” she added.

A direct impact of Indian students choosing to stay back in the country for higher education will boost the ‘Study in India’ initiative of the Indian government. This programme that aims to make India an attractive higher education destination for students in India and other countries.

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