Hyderabad : US is the most popular destination for higher education. It still hosts three times as many Indian students as the UK and is still is the most preferred destinations for higher education for Indians, particularly South Indian.
Among the South Indians the craze is seen more in Andhra Pradesh. Economic slowdown and low employment rates in the US has not dampened Indian students interest in the USA said Mr. Himish Bhatnagar, an Independent US Visa Consultant and a former Chief Consular Investigator of US Embassy in New Delhi addressing a gathering in city on Saturday. The meeting went on till late evening. He was the Chief Guest at the Seminar on F1 Visa and inaugurated the Yukthi 2012, an education fair.
Earlier welcoming the gathering Surya Ganesh Valmiki, Chairman and Managing Director of Valmiki Group informed that India has about 5000 overseas educational consultants who promote education abroad. Off which majority of them are in Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Our state alone has about 2000 small and big overseas educational consultancies. It is time to check the credentials of these agents. Towards this direction we have been harping upon on idea to form an Association of Overseas Educational Consultancies (AOIC) for the past one year. And it will become a reality in next six months, informed Surya Ganesh Valmiki.
One retired top cop who earlier associated with State Task Force has been requested to head the association to begin with. Then we will approach Credible Overseas Consultants to become a members in the association. Initially we expect to have about 500 members. This association will in turn organize Career Fairs in Overseas Education. Introduce only credible foreign universities. We will also approach embassies of countries of USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe particularly Germany, Italy which are the top destinations for overseas studies to recognize the association. We will also approach CIEC (Canada Indo Educational Council) and AIRC(American International Recruitment Council) etc and others informed Surya Ganesh Valmiki.
The proposed association will have national headquarter in Hyderabad and regional chapters will be set up in different cities across the country, he informed. Right now due diligence work is going on. The Association will be fully functional in next six months, he told the gathering.
The student Visa rejection rate is increasing drastically for the past couple of years especially from Andhra Pradesh and Punjab he said. Before the situation becomes worst, we need to put the systems in place to help genuinely the students, he informed.
The reasons for the mushrooming consultancies he said was due to almost no entry barrier, and almost no investment. And everybody wants to cash in on from the craze for overseas education. We also find fault with parents and students who are always in a rush and look for shortcut methods, he said.
We will also approach Government of India for a strong governing body to regulate these services. The Government of India was considering setting up a monitoring agency in the past but nothing much has moved since then, he lamented. China has more educational consultants than India. But, they are well organized and students are never taken for a ride there, he said and added that
US has over 5000 institutions and accounts for 25% of the top 200 universities in the world. Unlike general perception, the enrolments of Indian students in US Universities is not come down. But, it is not gone up drastically as well. You know there is a slump everywhere. Still lot of students prefer America for their higher education. In India Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka top for studies in USA said Mr. Himish Bhatnagar, while addressing a seminar here in Hotel Katriya in city. Organised by city based Valmiki Group on the side line of Yukthi 2012, an Education Fair which is being participated by over 25 USA and Canadian Universities.
Some of these Universities include University of South Florida, Fanshawe College, Oregon State University, Lambton College, Colorado State University, Dalhousie University, University of Idaho, Royal Roads University, University of Mass (Lowell), Thomson Rivers University, University of Mass (Dartmouth), University of Mass (Boston), Kent State University, South East Missouri State University, Rider University. The objective of the Yukthi 2012 Education Fair is to bridge the knowledge gap between the Universities and Student Community and facilitate smooth admission and visa processing said Mr. Surya Ganesh Valmiki, CMD of the Valmiki Group.
F1(is a non immigrant, fulltime, student visa) Visa Seminar was held at three different timings first at 11.30am, 3pm and 4.30pm during the day to facilitate the rush for the same.
Himish Bhatnagar, Former Chief Consular Investigator, US Embassy with the American Embassy, New Delhi, Himish was a Chief Consular Investigator – Anti-Fraud Unit (AFU). He was looking after the complete consular processing including Anti Fraud Unit, Immigrant and Non-immigrant Unit. Himish gave information on Students Visa Processing, US Universities Admission Processes, Selection of University, Budget, Future, Different Visa Categories and what are the expectation of the Visa Officer etc and also other visa categories both immigration and non immigration.
Little over a lakh Indian students seek admission in various US universities each year. Indians are the second biggest community after China seeking admission there he said and added that Indians account nearly 14% of the total International student population in USA. US has about eight lakh international students studying in that country, he informed. University of Southern California, University of Illinois and the New York University are the three top Universities with highest International students population he said.
One shift seen in the recent past is unlike in the past students going to US have become more cost conscious. They know precisely what they want. Indian students have enormous advantage of English as we learn English from our childhood. While Chinese learn English only go to abroad. Germany is off late is being preferred especially for Engineering and Pharmacy courses informed the speakers who spoke on the occasion.
A separate Workshop on Canada Visa was also held at 1:30 pm and 2 pm by an industry expert Ms. Harvinder Bhatnagar, who is also Career Counsellor with Navbharat Times of Times of India group.
Valmiki Group is a name to reckon in overseas education and has been organizing several seminars, expos for the benefit of the student community. For the past several years it has been working to bridge the education divide. For more information and participation, please contact Valmiki Group on Tel: 27899994 / 95, 09348666691
