Click to play videoBangalore: Twenty-one-year-old Anand Kulkarni enrolled in a coaching institute to prepare for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) last year, after his BE degree.
But post-the American economic crisis, he has now changed his mind. Atul has decided to stay in India and shift from his dream MS in Cornell. He now prefers to enroll in a Indian MBA course.
“As far as the initial investment, I as a student has to make, compared to the returns, the kind of placements I'm going to get. I need to revisit my strategy or plan with respect to doing my masters outside,” says Atul.
For seven years in a row, Indians have accounted for the largest number of foreign students in American universities, touching almost 95,000 in 2008. However, 2009 could be the year India loses this position. The number of students for GRE in 2007 was 74,000, and it was just 49,000 last year. Takes for the TOEFL and GMAT are also on the decline.
“It has decreased primarily for two reasons. The first reason is the huge uncertainty, which is there across the world. The second major reason is because of the dollar price going almost to Rs 50. It has almost become 25 per cent more expensive for students to go ahead and pursue studies abroad,” says Director TIME Bangalore center Ajay Arora.
Students feel that an MBA could give them greater flexibility and stability in their careers, but are disappointed that they may miss out on the global exposure that comes with an American education.
“I think that I may be exposed here only to Indian origin people,” says CAT aspirant Deepak Kidiyoor.
These students are unlikely victims to the global meltdown, but it could be India's gain at America's loss too.
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