Why it might be a good time to think for foreign undergraduate options for Indian students?

There is a lot of familiar scenes you get to witness at this time of the year? A lot of worried parents asking almost similar question transcending ages. Our son / daughter got this rank in engineering entrance exam will they get this discipline? What are the job prospects for this discipline? Mind you most of these kids are not first generation college goers which in effect means that most of these parents asking questions have themselves been in some of the best colleges in India.

The familiar situation has begged for a question which is almost dreadful to ask in India. Has our Indian higher education system kept up with change in time and modern requirements? A lot of us complaint about increasing competition in India. The ever increasing cut offs almost seem like a bull market with no decline in foreseeable future. But have we ever thought about increasing requirements for job market? The skill sets which were once hallmark for stellar career might just be outdated even for getting a fresher job. As if the fight to enter formal job market is not hard enough, the requirement to continuously upgrade one’s skill has become paramount to survival.

This entire ecosystem is not helped by the fact of increasing fee structure of most of the Indian private colleges putting them, if not at par, not very far behind from their foreign counter parts (In some cases higher as well). Putting all these things in perspective here are few points to ponder on why it might be the best time to think for foreign undergrad:

Contemporary courses: Ever heard of big data, data science or data is the new oil phrases? Well there are universities now which are offering undergrad courses in data science. Yes you heard it right. Some of the best universities around the world are now offering courses specifically designed for today’s needs and data science is one such fast emerging field among other such emerging courses.

Affordability: Contrary to proper belief the cost of attending foreign institute is not exorbitantly high as believed. In fact some in some of the countries the cost is almost at par with private universities in India. For example cost of engineering undergrad degree in Germany is almost equivalent to in India. Comparable ROI (a very widely used term these days) for some of these undergrad courses is tangibly higher than India.

Career opportunities: Harsh as it may sound but opportunities for undergrads from similar institutes in their rankings are much better in foreign institutes when compared to India. This can be attributed to many reasons which is beyond the scope of this blog but one reason which should b discussed is quality of imparted education. Frequently there are articles ones come across speaking about how Indian graduates are unemployable. While it is sorry state of affairs, the change is slow and sadly enough individual’s career doesn’t have this kind of time.

Intangible benefits: International setting with campuses full of people around the world gives more exposure in terms of making choices for the future. Undergrad is considered to be the time where one needs to experiment to make informed choice and these campuses offer plenty of these opportunities.