Indians seek education on web

India ranks number two in terms of educational research on google.com, states a report released by Google India on Wednesday. 

The report said five out of six students searching for educational material and courses on the internet make their career decisions based on the data available on google.com.The study was compiled by combining Google search query patterns and an offline research conducted by TNS Australia on behalf of Google India across seven cities within the age group of 18-35 years. Google India representatives said in 2008, India was ranked at eighth position for education related searches on the internet. 

“We have come a long way by securing the second position. We have seen explosive growth in this segment. There are approximately 120 million internet users in India which accounts for 10 per cent of the total population,” said Rajan Anandan, VP and managing director of Google India.  Of the total education related research done, IT and vocational training is among the most searched education courses, followed by MBA and Engineering courses.The search done in the education sector has increased by 46 per cent year on year on the search engine, added Anandan. Out of all education related search queries on Google, over 40 per cent for higher education courses and institutes. Seven out of ten students feel that it is essential for any educational institute to have a website. phones have shown a growth of over 135 per cent with over 22 per cent of search queries related to education.  NPTELHRD, an educational website, is the most popular website among Indian students with 7.9 million views followed by Massachusetts ,Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University. 

Most searched Indian Universities include Sikkim Manipal University, Amity University, Nirma University and Lovely Professional University. Among the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Delhi and Chennai are the most searched, while Ahmedabad and Bangalore are among the most searched Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). 

Education comes under the top ten searched categories in India as per the study. “For additional information, close to 35 per cent of people searching on the search engine is from cities with less than ten lakh population. Faculty videos are among the most watched videos on YouTube,” added Anandan.