KOCHI: The number of students going abroad for higher education has increased over the years, with Canada, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and the US being the most preferred ones. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has upset these carefully laid plans. Travel restrictions and the uncertainty about when the campuses will reopen have left the students a worried lot. However, experts have sought to allay these apprehensions since world over, the education sector has embraced the new norm of the teaching-learning process.
“If the students are worried about not being able to realise their ambition of joining varsities or colleges abroad, I would ask them not to worry,” said Eldho Kuruvilla, founder and chief mentor, VedAtma Consulting, Kochi. New normals are being adopted in education, he added.“With online classes becoming the byword today, students will be able to pursue any course from anywhere,” said Eldho. According to him, Covid might prevent students from getting the on-campus experience, but none of the foreign colleges and universities will shut the doors on global students.
“These education institutions need students, even for their most prestigious courses. Of course, just like it happens in the case of the on-campus admission, the colleges might come up with a foolproof process,” he said. According to him, one advantage the students will have due to Covid is that they will be able to do courses from the foreign universities for fees that will be a lot less compared to what they would have had to fork out otherwise. “But, this might not be enough for those who were looking forward to experiencing the culture of the country. Post-Covid, countries will find ways to coexist with the disease and allow international travel,” said Eldho.
Regarding the opportunities available to students, he said they should realise that Covid has not impacted them. “The opportunities remain the same and more opportunities may come up,” he added. The level of competition might go up in the country, said B S Warrier, an education expert. “With more students forced to curtail plans for overseas education, the number of students applying for the same course will increase,” he said. And this could well lead to those(second tier students) other than the toppers losing out on the opportunities. So, those who have scored lower marks might not get a chance to enrol in leading colleges,” he said.