Following the announcement of board exam cancellations, a significant number of students aspiring to study abroad took a plunge. However, the enthusiasm to study abroad persists and is apparent from the insights that came in.
The statistics collated from a large pool of students also pointed towards the key challenges and concerns of the students. The WorldGrad, a tech-enabled platform that assists students right from the beginning of the overseas education process, recently took an elaborated survey of over 20,000 undergrad aspirants to gather insights on their plans of studying abroad post-Covid; the survey also took insights on their obstacles and overall hardships.
According to the survey, 81% of the students still aspire to study abroad whereas 19% of students have delayed or dropped the idea of overseas education. With regards to the popular study abroad destinations, Canada came out as the top choice for students amongst 50% of the respondents which aligns with the fact that it has attracted over 140K Indian students because of favourable immigration opportunities; the USA comes second, with 40% of students considering it, followed by UK and Australia. Australia has become the least preferred destination which is quite clear, given the stats as intakes from India to Australia have gone from ~80K in 2019 to less than 40K in 2021.
According to the report, there could be a lot of reasons for it, of which Covid-19 and the travel restrictions that come along with it, is only one. 95% of the students believe that being vaccinated in India will make them more suitable for travel overseas and 75% of those who have delayed the plans stated that financial constraints as a big factor, a part of which could have been brought on due to the economic uncertainty in the current situation. For those planning to go overseas, the process has clearly been delayed as only 5% have received admissions so far. A vast majority (76%) are either still researching their options or in the process of application. This is again due to the severe delays in board results due to which students have not been able to start the fall term with overseas universities and will likely go early next year.
Commenting on the survey, Mr. Abhinav Mital, Co-Founder of The WorldGrad, said,
“It was quite prominent that Covid-19 pandemic might not be in the favour of the students who wish for overseas education but I am really inspired by the stats that we got through the survey which clearly shows that a lot of students haven’t let the crises affect their dreams and still wish to continue with their plans. We understand that most of the students are facing financial constraints even more than before due to Covid crisis but as we have all heard where there is a will there’s a way and with that, I would like to assure every student that The WorldGrad is here to assist you at every step from ground zero.”
“For study abroad aspirants, this platform provides online programs that allow you to start your first year of studies from home thereby saving money and time along with support for English tests, visas, and even student loans through the partnered vendors which could be really helpful for the students. We all have struggled in these times but it’s been really tough for students as well because of the sudden shift in the model of teaching. To which we have also come with a way in which students can save over INR 20 Lakhs and above by studying at home and later join the campus as they would,” Mital added.
