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Student’s Dilemma in Choosing International University

3751 Dec 14, 2016

Similar to Swinging Pendulum

Just like one medicine cannot cure all patients, similarly same University and respective country is not best for each and every student flying abroad for Higher education.

The onset of Globalisation, Liberalisation and privatization has led to commercialization of domestic and International Education. Nowadays, Education has become The Education Industry globally. A Large chunk of students are heading for Developed Economies for pursuing higher education. Statistics over the years indicates that almost 3 lakh Indian students headed for Foreign Universities previous year. This practice has become a business model for host countries and source of Value education and quality of life for students hailing from Underdeveloped or Developing Economies. These host countries are mostly developed economies like USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and over a dozen of other countries.

	Destination	Number of Students
1	United States	103,968
2	United Kingdom	38,205
3	Australia	20,429
4	New Zealand	6,650
5	Canada	4,617 (2009)

Top 5 destinations and number of students from India studying abroad*2010

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2012)

The above-mentioned table indicates the dream place to study for maximum Indian students is USA.

Moreover, After appearing for GRE, GMAT, IELTS or other exams, students heading for Foreign Universities are not completely relieved from their responsibilities and stress. Till now the job is at half way. Then Students enter in second stage and they have to take many decisions country of study, University, fees, Visa related tasks.etc. Since the students have an ocean of choices with regard to selecting University and respective country their situation is synonymous to Swinging pendulum---moving back and forth. Deciding the country and respective University is a cumbersome process and they have to put in sweat and energy for carrying out the above-mentioned job. Further, this is a highly sensitive issue and the wrong choice of University and country may have repercussions on the career and the whole life of student. So the need of the hour is to design a transparent and a foolproof mechanism for selecting International University and host country.

Moreover, some countries look charmer to students. However the students should not marry in haste by the charm and rosy picture of foreign education. This study aims to provide virtual SWOT Analysis to Students for deciding the host country in pursuing education. It is pertinent for students flying abroad to analyse and evaluate their resources and constraints before taking any sensitive decision.

As per World Education Services, For the sake of better understanding students may be classified in four categories

Explorers	Highfliers
Strugglers	Strivers

1. Explorers----- Students with high financial resources and low academic preparedness.

2. Highfliers---- Student with high financial resources and high academic preparedness

3. Strugglers-- Student with low financial resources and low academic preparedness

4. Strivers---- Student with low financial resources and high academic preparedness.

In the second step, student should analyse and evaluate following Attributes and sub-criteria

School Reputation	Career Prospects
Location	Cost

1. School Reputation Ranking of school etc.

2. Career Prospects- Placement record, Reputation of school among employers

3. Location---Proximity of college campus to major city, Having fun things

4. Cost---Cost of course, cost of living

For Instance among students of China and India aiming for Masters Program in USA , 70% of Chinese Students seeking Education in USA can afford $30,000 per year for their studies whereas 70% of Indian students can afford less than $30,000 per year.

After analyzing all the above-mentioned factor and carrying out feasibility study student should select the ideal University and host country.

Now we will analyse the countries on the basis of their immigration policies.

Canada is a low-cost option with favourable immigration policies.

France and Germany initiated immigration for providing Education in the year 1997 and now have become an affordable destination with subsidized tuition fees.
However, countries in Asia Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are labeled as providing western education at eastern prices