Courses ranging from master’s programmes in fields such as economics and humanities in the UK to film management, animation and hospitality in Singapore are gaining currency among Indian students.
Most Indians looking to go abroad do so at the postgraduate level and the most popular choice is a master’s in business administration, according to Amit Rao, who heads the Ahmedabad-based Rao Overseas Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
But new courses often lead to unconventional career moves once students come back.
Vineet Sharma, who finished his MBA in 2007 from Chung Hua University in Taiwan, returned to India to set up a pneumatic tools importing company. Around 250 Indian students went to Taiwan in 2008, up by 100 students from the year before, according to the India-Taipei Association in Taipei.
Another Indian student abroad, Amrita Mondal, followed a degree from the Delhi School of Economics with a global studies course offered in English by universities in Germany and Austria.
For many students, the most attractive factor is cost. Business schools in India charge around Rs8 lakh for a two-year postgraduate course but their graduates can expect around Rs4 lakh per year as the starting salary, according to John Gabriel, chief marketing officer at coaching firm IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd.
In Singapore tuition fees for a one-year programme are roughly the same and a graduate can expect a salary around $2,000 (Rs97,200) per month and can live comfortably in the country while still saving up to $500 per month. “That’s half the salary you are going to draw in India and you complete the course in half the time,” says Gabriel.
An MBA in the UK, on the other hand, will cost around Rs15-18 lakh for one year, including living expenses.
Singapore, with a reputation for safety, proximity to India and large Indian population, make it a popular choice, but other countries such as Spain, France and Thailand have also made visas relatively easy to obtain for students.
Some countries such as Singapore and Canada make it easy for international students to stay and provide them a path to permanent resident status.
And governments ranging from Taiwan to the European Union (EU) countries offer full scholarships to attract foreign students to their universities. The EU-sponsored Erasmus Mundus scholarship, for example, provides funding based on academic merit for citizens of other countries to study at a consortium of schools in continental Europe.
Students in non-English speaking countries do run into language problems but, they say, their hosts try to make the transition easier. Consultants say the choice to go abroad isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t make any sense to go for any second-tier college globally for MBA if you don’t get good options or a good mix of students in a batch. But with the number of interested students far outweighing the number of open slots in India, countries outside the US are becoming a more attractive option.
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