Prospects abroad uncertain for students

‘There May Be 40%-50% Drop In Admissions’

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.04.2020

Shubham Khandelwal has got admission to one of the top 10 business schools in the UK, Warwick Business School. Paul Vineeth Thomas plans to do his bachelors course in hospitality, tourism and event management in James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. Now, the Covid-19 crisis has rendered their plans uncertain.

"I am hoping that things will settle down in next three months. If the lockdown continue for more than three months and then it would spoil all my plans. Our parents would be scared to send us," said Khandelwal.

His academic year is scheduled to start only in October.

“We expect 40% to 50% drop in foreign admissions due to coronavirus crisis," said Bala Ramalingam, director, BEC Global Private Limited. However, the universities are asking the consultancies to conduct the business as usual. A few universities have indicated that they may postpone the academic session. The qualifying tests such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) have been postponed.

Rahul Kumar, a city student who got admission in De Montfort university in UK said that the university has said classes would begin in September, without specifying the date. Rahul, currently pursuing BTech in a deemed university, said the lockdown and delay in the final exams was worrying him.

Students joining Australian universities are more tense as academic session starts in July. "I was planning to do my Bachelors at James Cook University in Australia. I was working for that and got an offer letter. Everything seemed clear, but now there is real uncertainty. I don’t know what will happen," said Paul Thomas. The admission officers from the university and consultants tell him that there would be a month's delay.

"If things clear by mid-June, I will go to Australia. If things continue may be I will go for the February intake," he said.

R Nandhini got admission to do masters in accounting and finance at the University of Adelaide. But, she is yet to decide on joining the university. "I am still on a dilema as we don't know when the crisis would end," she said.

The announcement of poststudy work visa by UK has increased the interest among Indian students to study in UK universities and consultancies witnessed a spike in interest.

"Due to the change in the visa rules, we expected 100% increase in number of students going to UK this year. But, Covid-19 crisis may bring down the number of students. Still, we expect 50% increase compared to last year," said Praveen Subramani, global admissions manager, SI-UK. In 2019-20, 30,000 students from India went to the UK universities. "The enquiries from the students would be at peak at this time. But, we have almost nil enquiries for past two weeks," said R Sureshkumar, managing director, Truematics - Overseas Education Consultancy, Chennai.

The qualifying tests such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) have been postponed