- Ease of admission
Admission to India’s top-ranked institutes is highly competitive given that Lakhs of students pass out of high school every year and seats available for admission are quite limited. IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) are amongst India’s dream schools. The race to secure admission gets much more intense depending on the level of study and discipline. On top of that, students have to deal with the stress of acing entrance exams for certain disciplines, for example the Joint Entrance Exams (JEE mains) for engineering colleges and the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for medical colleges. A study revealed that on average, a student has less than a 50% chance of securing admission to a highly reputed IIT.
High cut-offs cause even the brightest students to give up on their hope of securing admission to a course and college of their choice. And as a result, students with no guaranteed admission have to think through the final option of studying abroad. Eventually, students with a strong academic standing and enough budget choose to further their higher education abroad. Since undergraduate admission at a highly ranked foreign school is perceived to be comparatively easier, an increasing number of students from India are choosing to take the big leap.
- More study options
A common concern about the Indian education system is that its academic institutes focus only on delivering popular STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses. A segment of Indian students who wish to take the road less traveled, are constantly looking to advance their higher studies abroad just because their desired program is not widely available in the country! Even if the course is available, the universities in India lack expertise and accreditation to shape talented students for a better career path.
On the other hand, there is a rich variety of courses available to international students in countries like the US, UK, and Canada. Schools in these countries offer courses in some of the most contemporary and unconventional fields like entertainment, sports and psychology. For example, a student who wants to study filmmaking in India has fewer film academies or schools to choose from and may end up with just a diploma.
- Quality of education
Even though the standard of courses available across colleges in India is developing, there still seems to be a lack of opportunities for practical application of skills learned through conceptual understanding. And because of this, many students in India struggle to get job placements after graduation. The root cause of this problem circles back to the Indian education system emphasis on rote learning to remember concepts rather than understanding them.
In contrast, schools abroad engage students in active learning through class participation, dialogue exchange, case studies, and practical off- and on-campus experiences that make learning fun and meaningful. In addition, flexibility to tailor courses to a student’s interest and the freedom to work on a part-time basis while studying adds to the overall appeal of earning a degree abroad.
If you plan to pursue a career that works heavily in trade or partnering with global organizations, an education in the US can help you build strong US-based networks that can create future business opportunities. There’s also a strong culture of innovation and technology in the US, whether you’re studying health care, artificial intelligence, or even finance. American universities help foster much of the innovation and technology breakthroughs throughout the world through their research and development departments. International students can benefit hugely from access to technologically savvy labs and other research facilities that American universities offer.
- Emigration pathway
Emigration is one of the top reasons why Indian students, especially at the graduate level, look to pursue a degree abroad. Countries like the US and Canada offer attractive job prospects post graduation and their flexible immigration policies allow students to seek employment on completion of studies. US National Science Foundation’s Survey reveals that about 80% of students from India and other Asian countries choose to remain in America after completing their graduate and doctoral studies.
