Several million students are enrolled in ‘foreign’ educational institutions around the world; nearly one million new students enroll in post-secondary educational institutions annually. Proportionate to the size of their populations, China and India contribute to nearly half of this enrolment. Enrolment of students from other countries varies greatly according to the economic status and availability of educational providers in their home countries. Uneven provision of post-secondary education in many developing countries has been the cause of massive ‘brain-drain’ since 1960s, and weak intellectual capital formation in those countries.
Beyond access to specialist education, a large proportion of international students are being pushed out of their domestic educational institutions because of very limited capacity of good quality provisions. In India, despite the large size of its intellectual class and scientific manpower, admission to high quality providers of post-secondary education is highly limited. After admissions in the first 20 institutions in each field of study are finished, the remaining institutions are of very poor academic quality. Large scale investment in creating excellent academic institutions in a wide variety of fields of study and learning has simply not happened so far; even when it begins, creating educational institutions of quality takes decades, not years. Worse still, many established educational institutions of post-secondary education (like universities) in the public sector have been allowed to become inefficient, archaic and administrative nightmares.
Therefore, it is not surprising that nearly $10 billion is spent annually by Indian students to study abroad. While a portion of this could be explained as investments by students and their families in future career and income of those students, an increasing number are also going to study abroad for other reasons. Many students are going to Australia to get certificates for preparation as cooks, barbers, beauticians, etc This craze for foreign degree may also hide other motivations like migration.
Yet, it can not be denied that there is now a growing ‘craze’ for foreign degree, irrespective of its quality. The new rich in India are sending their kids to study abroad not because they would like them to have a good career but because it may improve their ‘value’ in the marriage market-place, or in the social networks of their families. It is this craze which incites many agents and intermediaries, who dupe these students to spend large sums of money in very poor quality educational shops. Globalisation is driving people towards new fashions and possessions around the world; foreign degree is one more fashionable item to acquire.
Is it only happening in some parts of India? Is it happening only in India? How are things in this regard in your region or country?
I sure would like to hear from you.
Rajesh Tandon
I couldn’t agree more on the poor quality and availability of post-secondary education in India and the incessant brain drain that it has caused till date.
But times are changing now, the craze to migrate to foreign locations is diminishing rapidly especially due to reverse exodus of those working abroad (take the example of Kerala flodded by lakhs of jobless diaspora). It used to be fashionable once but now people are wary. Also, some are getting scared due to racist attacks in foreign countries. Still others are inspired by poeple who lived in a foreign country for many years and finally chose India for permanent residence (A la Shah Rukh Khan in Swades).
On another note (esp. w.r.t. higher education abroad), i have friends from Andhra Pradesh who studied with me in England and you are right about how they became more eligible and even more expensive grooms for the families of their brides-to-be. One of them even proudly stated to me that his rate had quadrupled in that one year!!!
But, here is where I beg to differ - these boys were extremely knowledgeable about their subjects and were there on a scholarship to study in a place that provided the best relevant research.
I don’t think that the young crowd of our country can be duped any more, especially in the age where all info about universities is online. In fact most of the youngsters choose their future alma maters very shrewdly and carefully.
Yes, there are touts etc. who are still doing well in smaller towns but their numbers are fast dwindling(hopefully! as I don’t have any statistics to fall back on)
…and somehow whether it is issues of urbanization or any other, it is the small towns in our country that are suffering the most…sadly so…
Comment by Kanak Tiwari — October 6, 2009 @ 8:45 am
Sir, I do agree with you that globalisation has increased the “craze for foreign degree”. And thogh most people in my region, Jammu and kashmir, are yet not that advanced to afford a forign degree but craze to migrate to metropolitan cities and attain a decent degree is there. Like i migrated to Delhi too.
But more than this, i want to enlighten another key issue in our country - “Brain Drain”.
Our education system spends on brilliant students of esteemed institutions like AIIMS, IIT, IIM and what do we get in return. Most young, energetic population want to serve developed nations, rather than their own needy country. What is the purpose of spending so much on these institutions if this is majorly the return?
Rather, the focus should probably be on strengthening the existing not-so-esteemed institutions, so that atleast we reap the benefits of what we are sowing!!
But i understand that, easy the word “strengthen” may appear to me, it would be very difficult, keeping in mind lots of efforts might have been made towards this by knowledgeable individuals.
What do you have to say?
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