Canada Wooing Gujarati Students for Migration
Recent policy announcements by the Canadian government shows that the students of this state are preferred for higher studies in Canada.
As a matter of fact, some experts say that the number has risen by about 40% this year compared to previous years. It seems that the days of moving abroad for higher studies is back for students in the western state of Gujarat in India.
Greener Pastures for Students: Canada has won the distinction of being the most favored nation for relocating to for further studies according to recent trends. Mansi Mehta, who works as a counselor in a student consultancy firm states that nearly half of the enquiries handled by her regarding moving to Canada is from students who are planning to go abroad for further studies. She states that reason for this thrust in applications is because Canadian universities are offering a diploma course, which on completion results in a work permit for the students. Another deciding factor, she says is the Student Partnership Program (SPP) which aims to make the visa process a lot simpler than it used to be till recently.
European Vying For a Piece of Indian Pie: Canada sees a strong competition from Germany, which has put in place scholarships to students and also many programs where fees are waived for students who opt for those programs. Another factor that could tilt the balance is the relaxed criteria for work permits in that country. However, Canada could still have an upper hand since English and French are the languages that are accepted in Canada and India has quite a sizeable number of students that take up these two languages more than any other language courses and the number of German speaking students are not that large in India.
Among other countries that have been favorites in the past are the UK, which is seeing a decline in the number of students going there, as also US which is facing another slowdown in the economy which has resulted in a difficulty in getting jobs and Australia, which saw an initial surge and then a slump because of the racial attacks on students of Indian origin in that country.
BITE (Business, Information Technology, Engineering) The Bait: With regards to choice of subjects by students for further studies, the most preferred trio is that of information technology, business and engineering. Experts of this field agree that they have seen a much better turnover of students intending to go abroad for further education than what they had experienced last year. It is being observed that consultancy firms are getting around 4000 to 5000 applications from students across the state intending to go abroad for further studies, which is an encouraging factor.