70% of students prefer foreign degrees over Indian, says study

Delivering a talk during World Congress on Excellence at Panjab University, Umesh L Bharte, assistant professor from University of Mumbai, said that around 70% students value foreign qualification more than the Indian degree.

The speaker made the comment on the basis of a recently-conducted study by him, wherein 162 students from Mumbai and Delhi were interviewed; the objective was to know why students prefer to migrate.

The study-’Mobility prefences of Indian Students’- conducted on students (postgraduates and graduates) from University of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, will be published soon, said the speaker.

On why students prefer to go abroad, Bharte said, “There are two reasons: Firstly, if a student wants to be identified as a global student, he would prefer to go abroad. Secondly, students value their foreign degree more than the one they get here; even though the national institutes here are of great repute.”

Explaining further, he added, “Due to colonial legacy, the prominance of English language, and the Indian job market, which gives more prefenrence to students with foreign degree, students are more attractive towards foreign universities.”

The psyche of Indian society also plays an important role, he said, adding that even though a graduate from an Indian university could be having more qualification, “many a times, he/she is not recruited after an interview and the one with foreign degree is given preference”.

In last five decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of students migrating abroad, he said, adding in 1963, total 10,394 students migrated to abroad, while the number increased to 18, 9500 in 2012.

“In 2012, India shared second top position with over 1.89 lakh students visiting abroad; China scored first with 694,400 students,”said the speaker.