Is Higher Education Elsewhere Worth It?

llinois univ has tie-up to draw Indian students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Eeshan Shrimali landed on the Northern Illinois University (NIU) campus a year back under a new programme that allowed him to complete his course in computer science engineering after studying for it for two years at the Manipal University in Karnataka.
One of the most popular varsities among engineering students in India, NIU has an arrangement with the southbased deemed varsity to allow students to get a foreign degree by studying a few years in India before moving to the American campus for graduation.
It is arrangements such as these which have boosted the international student population on US campuses in recent years. Apart from hefty support in terms of scholarships and grants, leading US colleges have forged twinning programmes or signed MoUs with several Indian institutions to draw their students.
Today, while 91% of students at NIU come from the state of Illinois, the foreign student population at the Chicago-based university stands at 862 — and they hail from 88 different countries.
Incidentally, the US attracts the largest number of international students among all nations, with Indians accounting for the biggest chunk. According to a 2007 report by the US-based Open Doors agency, the total international students in the US stood at 5,82,984. Of these the largest chunk was in California.
Sonal Parekh, managing director of EduWorld, a consulting firm which helps students wanting to study abroad, said: “The US gives the maximum scholarships in terms of assistanceship, tution waiver and research fellowships. The flexibility in curriculum, quality teaching and worldclass infrastructure see thousands going there every year.’’
A senior faculty member at the IIT-Bombay Kannan Moudgalya who did his PhD from the Rice University in chemical engineering pointed out that the American higher education system had perfected a system which draws students. “The infrastructure , the emphasis on high end research, merit in case of admission and fear of non-delivery in case of faculty members,’’ Moudgalya says, bringing out the best in the system.

SHOCKED: An officer escorts a student after the shootout at Illinois university on Thursday