Students keen on foreign study fear losing a yr/sem Final-Year Engg, Arts, Sc Exams Only In June
Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com
Chennai : Students keen on going abroad for higher studies for the September 2022 intake are worried as final year exams for engineering and arts and science streams are scheduled only in June. They may have to waste one year/semester if they don’t get marksheets and provisional certificates by July, say experts, urging universities to prioritize giving certificates by then. Post-pandemic, interest to study in foreign universities among final year UG students has upped, with queries reaching pre-Covid levels, say education consultants.
However, due to confusion over holding online exams, the pre-final se- mester exams held only in February. It delayed final semester exams. Final exams at Anna University (AU), usually over in May, are set to begin only in the last week of June. Vinoth, an engineering student from a city college, wants to join Masters in aerospace engineering at University of Sydney. “As per the current schedule, my final semester exams will be over in the first week of July. But the academic session starts in August. It would be very difficult to join the university this year as I may not get a provisional degree certificate or marksheet on time,” he said.
It is only after submitting the documents for completing the course will the conditional offer from the university arrive and help kickstart the visa process. “AUshould give priority to final year students so we can pursue higher studies in foreign universities without break,” he added. Swetha, who has got a seat at University of Manchester for a Masters in management information systems, said the course starts on September 9. “As per schedule, I will get the provisional certificate only in mid-August.
It will be very difficult to get a visa before classes start. I have postponed my plans to next year,” she said, adding that she plans to apply for universities in Canada during the next academic year. Deemed universities have completed their exams. Hari Venkatesh, a student from such an institution in the city, is confident of joining the Masters course in supply chain management at University of Kent in the UK. After a two-year lull, educational consultants were looking forward to the September intake.
They are worried. “For the September intake, we need to apply for a visa by the end of July so students can get it on time. But, we are doubtful whether they will get it as their exams are set to be completed only in the first week of July,” said R Sureshkumar, managing director of Chennai-based Truematics Overseas Education Consultancy. Srinivas Venkateswaran, director of Global Degrees, said that most of the top 100 universities in the world have one intake window in August or September. “Students might end up wasting almost one year,” he said, urging universities in Tamil Nadu to either advance the exams for final year students or speed up the declaration of results.
