The year 2007 has seen more Indian students travelling abroad for their university education than at any other time in history. International education fairs bring with them universities from all over the world, united in their intention to recruit the best Indian talent possible to their degree programmes.  Tim Rogers, the International Education Consultant and former Head of Student Recruitment and Admissions at the London School of Economics (LSE) investigates.

There is no doubt that Indian students travel internationally for their education for one clear reason – the opportunity to gain a qualification and life experience that will equip them to get a jumpstart in their chosen career. The QS Applicant Research 2007 underlines this: a survey of more than 4,500 international students, 1,000 of whom were Indian, indicated that their choices of country and university were based on their qualification being recognised internationally and the opportunity to work overseas after graduation.

A report by the Finnish Government published in 2006 echoes the interest in international education from another point of view, that of the employers. Those employing graduates with international qualifications assess studying and training abroad in three different ways. Firstly, from the perspective of occupational skills – whether the international experience increases students’ skills in their field of studies; secondly, how does the experience affect a students’ personal growth; and thirdly, what kind of skills and abilities does a student develop abroad that can help them perform in an international setting in the future. Though the report indicates that the first category of experience is questionable, the last two provide very strong arguments for study abroad, particularly with regard to the development of superior language skills and the ability to deal with people from other countries.

Vikram Nataraj, an Indian national and graduate of both the University of Warwick and the London School of Economics stands as a testament to the real value of an international education. Graduating in accounting, Vikram judges his successful career in the financial services industry in London as being the result of his international degrees: “I wanted to go abroad to give myself the best opportunity as possible to gain international experience in an educational environment not available to me at the time anywhere in Asia. I chose both of my universities based on their international reputation for academic quality.”

The choice of individual university is also particularly important to Indian students and the reasons for choosing one university over another differs from those in other countries. Common amongst other students’ reasons for individual choice are university specialisation and overall university reputation. The table below indicates that issues around the financing of international education programmes dominates the minds of most Indian students, with two of the top four reasons for selecting a specific university. Clearly, finance is of the greatest importance to prospective Indian international students.

Perhaps more interesting among the reasons for Indian students selecting universities are the factors that do not appear in the top seven: performance in national or international league tables appears in a lowly tenth place, behind concerns over return on investment, the profile of students and alumni and an individual university’s reputation, is particularly noteworthy.

In a time when league tables appear to be increasingly popular among magazine and newspaper editors, the reality is that Indian students regard them as only one element in how to judge the quality of an individual university and not a very significant one at that. Performance in accreditation and in placing students in suitable careers is far more important to Indian students wishing to invest in an international education.

You will, of course, have your own individual reasons for going abroad to study and they may differ wildly from those explored in this article. That by no means is a problem – indeed, perhaps the only reason that really matters has not even been discussed here: to make the most of your own ambitions and dreams. Whatever your reasons, if you have the opportunity to study internationally, make sure you take it and enjoy it.

Source: topgraduate.com