KOCHI: Career consultants say many parents are scared to send their children to other countries for higher education. Many varsities in India moving to online admissions has not helped those used to conventional ways
For the thousands of students who eyed higher education in and out of the country, the Covid-19 pandemic came as a shocker. While uncertainty looms over the declaration of Class XII board exam results, they are apprehensive about missing the chance to seek admissions in colleges outside the country and state. The unprecedented situation has left the students and parents with no option but to wait and watch.
Fear factor
According to career consultants, there is a definite fear in the minds of parents in sending their wards abroad for studies. For the overcautious, this can extend to fear in sending their children to study in universities in other states. And, career consultants are feeling the heat. “For students aspiring to pursue graduation in foreign universities, the cancellation of international flights has become an issue. Taking this into consideration, many universities have postponed the start of various programmes and courses by a couple of months. Other qualifications tests like IELTS are now being taken online. But fear has dampened the interest of many prospective students,” said Captain Sojan Jose, MD of Edu Career Services Pvt. Ltd, an overseas education consultancy in the city.
Safety of the country has also emerged as a deciding factor. “There is a surge in interest to study in countries like New Zealand which has successfully fought Covid-19. International students in New Zealand were also taken care of during the crisis. While there might be a section that would prefer to drop dreams of studying abroad, for the others who are well aware of the advantages of overseas education, waiting for normalcy to return is the way to go,” Sojan added.
Many prominent universities in India have shifted to the online mode of application and tests and interviews for students. This is a cause of major tension for students and parents who are used to the conventional norms of admission.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about college admissions and the current situation is not really helping the students of Kerala. CBSE students are yet to complete their exams, hence their results will also be declared late. Hence, if colleges in Kerala were to begin their admission, they will be left behind,” said Sajith Thomas, MD of Careertestlive, a career guidance establishment in the city.
There seems to be a shift in preference towards conventional courses. The focus seems to be on gaining a standard degree which allows for diversification in post-graduate studies.“Regarding careers choices, there seems to a shift towards more basic sciences. Rather than going outside students are exploring possibilities of technical education in the state. Before the outbreak, BTech was taking a backseat in comparison to other science courses. Now students seem to be interested in going back to BTech. The degree is acceptable in foreign universities and also gives them the scope of pursuing higher studies in a variety of subjects like economics, physics etc,” said P Rajeevan, employment officer under KASE.
The trend
Safety of the country has also emerged as a deciding factor.
There seems to be a shift in preference towards conventional courses.
The focus seems to be on gaining a standard degree which allows for diversification in
post-graduate studies.