HYDERABAD: There has been a considerable drop in the number of students from Hyderabad applying for US universities in the wake of a slew of anti-immigration decisions taken by the US government.
Test centres for GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) courses in the city are registering fewer enquiries for GRE exams and visa processing firms are witnessing close to 50 percent drop in the number of student visa applications to US universities.
In 2016, the US consulate in Hyderabad had issued the highest number of student visas in the country, the fifth largest number of student visas issued in the world.
“From January this year, we got just one enquiry for GRE exam. That is one enquiry in three months. Usually we would have a GRE batch comprising 10 numbers from February but this year there are none,” said Abdul Rahman, branch in-charge and counsellor at People’s Career Overseas Education.
There are more students now taking IELTS (International English Language Testing System) and PTE (Pearson Test of English) exams. “Maybe it has got to do with Trump coming to power in November,” opined Abdul.
“There has been a 40 to 50 percent drop in student visa applications so far this year, this is unusual,” says Subhakar Alapati, director, Global Tree, an overseas education consultancy in the city. A huge number of student visas were denied in the fall season (September) of 2016.
The rejection rate is now higher than for the past five university student intakes. This, along with Trump getting elected and the immigration bans that followed, has had a cumulative effect, he added. “As an industry we have not been affected that much,” says Subhakar. “If there is a slump in the number of students seeking admissions to US universities, there is a 150 percent hike in the number of students applying to Canadian universities.” Most of the course seats at Canadian universities are already maxed out. Student visa applications to Australia are now peaking, he added.
“March witnessed a 10 per cent increase in the student applications to the US because the US courts rejected president Trump’s immigration ban. After the murder of Indian software engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla at a bar, there were a lot of assurances and civil support. We expect things to get back to normalcy by September,” Subhakar hoped.