As of 2019, more than 8 lakh Indian students had enrolled in universities across the world.
India’s higher education system is the world’s largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States. In the prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2020, three Indian Universities- IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IISc (Bangalore)- have been included among the top 200 institutes. The number of colleges and universities in India reached 39,931 and 993, respectively, in FY19. Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education reached 26.3% in FY19. Needless to say, higher education is a stepping stone for the majority of students across the globe. However; 2020 saw a major setback with COVID-19. Over 1.5 million schools across India closed due to the pandemic. Only around 24% of households had access to the internet in India by 2019. In rural India, the numbers are much lower. At least 332 million children, or one in seven, have their mental health and well-being at risk because of the pandemic-induced lockdowns. According to a survey carried out by the Indian Psychiatry Society, there was a 20% rise in the number of cases of mental illness at the end of March 2020.
Given the current scenario, it is not surprising that international students are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the impact on higher education abroad. As of 2019, more than 8 lakh Indian students had enrolled in universities across the world. A recent QS survey conducted with 14,416 prospective international students revealed that over 90% of those intending to study at a foreign university are still planning to study abroad. However, in the US, 700 colleges saw a 16 per cent decrease in foreign student enrollment from the fall of 2019, as well as a 43 per cent drop in commencements. Nearly 40,000 international students who had planned to study in the US from September 2020 and beyond deferred their spot at business school in the spring and summer. International student numbers in Australia could drop by half by mid-year if borders remain closed to non-residents and citizens – a disheartening figure for Australian universities and b-schools, who already experienced an 80 to 90% decrease in study visa applications during 2020.
A KPMG and Google study, done before the Covid-19 outbreak, estimated that the online education market in India was set to grow to $1.96 billion (Rs 14,836 crore), with 9.6 million users by 2021, up from $247 million (Rs 1,870 crore) and 1.6 million users in 2016. The coronavirus-induced lockdown further propelled the market demand for EduTech players. India has now emerged as the second biggest market for a massive open online course (MOOC) in the world after the US.
With 600 million people or more than half of the entire population under the age of 25, we have the largest concentration of youth in the world. The lockdown disrupted the plans of our youth on education and career along with their counterparts around the globe. India, however, set a model for the world to follow by becoming an ed-tech hub. The advent of ed-tech empowered students and made them active participants in their education for the first time. There are now more than 4,450 ed-tech start-ups in the country, assisting more than 300 million school students and 40 million students pursuing higher education. India found itself in the global ed-tech index, with the cities of Bangalore and Delhi getting into the 7th and 14th position globally. Exam preparation platforms have tremendously eased out the process of applying and qualifying for education abroad. India Today reported that with the use of online preparation platforms, the success rate of students went up to about 7% as compared to less than 1% in the conventional classroom. Receiving over $2.2 billion of funding, the Indian ed-tech sector dominated headlines through 2020. The ed-tech ecosystem has seen multiple players catering across different verticals and naturally, as Corona progressed, study abroad was also streamlined by them.
Ed-tech platforms have made it possible to make study abroad dreams possible for many students who have decided to “wait” to study abroad. There are now platforms that allow students applying for study abroad programs to complete a part of a full year online and then proceed and finish the rest of the semesters offline and on-campus. This works as a perfect facilitator for overcoming the pandemic as well as saving up to 10-15 Lakhs on accommodation and other logistics expenses. These platforms are trying to replicate an on-campus experience for students through their counselling to onboarding and personalized tutoring to study group activities. Students can choose from 100s of qualifications from countries like Australia, the UK, the US, Canada and Dubai from the comfort of their homes.
It is now widely known, post the GMAC survey, that 76% of Indians said they weren’t changing their study abroad plans because of the pandemic and want to travel abroad to study. With vaccines coming to the maximum of the countries across the Globe impacted by Corona, the sentiment to study abroad has tilted back to the original. In fact, the higher education institutes of preferred study abroad destinations like the UK, Australia, Canada, Dubai, etc. are actively publishing the vaccination updates as well as details of the relaxation in admission restrictions brought about by Covid. In November 2020, 21% of students said that the introduction of a potential coronavirus vaccine would make them want to start their studies earlier – highly positive news for Undergraduate Colleges, Universities and B-schools around the world after the year of uncertainty.
Article featured on: BW Education