Study trends in 2013

According to estimates in a report released by ASSOCHAM, nearly eight lakh Indian students spent over Rs 10,000 crore on overseas education in 2012-13. The report, titled ‘Funds flows out of India for Higher Education 2013’, reveals that the country needs quality institutes on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) for students wanting to pursue careers in management, accounting, engineering and chartered accountancy. Such an approach would not only restrict the outgo foreign exchange but also spread of global standards within the country increasing employability of the students in the industry and research institutions.

DS Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, called for deregulation of higher education and reversing the trend of brain drain by opening up a series of quality institutions with public private partnership, while commenting on the findings of the report.

Making a comparative analysis of the expenditure incurred by Indian students studying in India and those studying abroad, the report states that while an IIT student incurs an expenditure of USD 150 per month as fees, those opting to go abroad incur anywhere between USD 200-600, per month, in countries such as US, Canada, Australia and UK.

The report additionally adds that deregulation of the higher education sector will also make India a leading destination for students hailing from other developing countries. While USA tops the list with 82% enrollment in the higher education sector, countries with low enrollment in this space constitute Pakistan (5%), India (12%), China (20%) and Brazil (24%).

The report also finds that about 95% of all entrance exam takers in the IITs and IIMs do not make it due to capacity constraints in these institutes and end up taking admissions abroad. While currently there are about 900 million jobs in India, 90% of these are skill-based, requiring vocational training, 9% are knowledge based and only 1% require both knowledge and skills.