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Indian students rethink study abroad plans in post-pandemic world
- India is the second-biggest source country for international students behind China, with 1.1 million Indians studying abroad last year
- But as their preferred Western universities struggle to balance health and education, some are looking closer to home
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After spending three years learning German and receiving acceptance letters from a number of the country’s universities, Tasin Siddiqi was almost ready to move to Europe. But the 23-year-old Indian’s plans have been plunged into uncertainty amid the global disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Kolkata native said he chose Germany because tuition fees there are subsidised and he could have received an 18-month work visa after completing his Master’s degree. “I have invested so much time and resources, I don’t want to look elsewhere,” he said.
Siddiqi is just one of hundreds of thousands of Indian students whose plans have had to be put on hold by the pandemic.
About 1.1 million Indian students were pursuing higher education programmes overseas as of last July, a figure that has swollen hugely in recent years. In fact, India is now the world’s second-biggest source of international students after China.
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But with Western universities – long the preferred choice of Indian students – struggling to balance safety with education in the time of coronavirus, many aspiring scholars are starting to rethink their choices.
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