Bailing out recession-hit overseas aspirants

Many international institutions and governments are keen on offering scholarships to Indian students this year.

Aparna Dutta had applied for a loan to fund her plans of studying in Melbourne last season. However, the amount sanctioned from the bank was not enough to cover her fees and expenses. She then applied for a scholarship for 2010 and now plans to use both the loan and scholarship money along with a part-time job of 20 hours to pay for her tution fees and living expenses.

The global meltdown and weakening rupee had compelled many students to postpone their plans of going abroad for higher studies and many ended up taking admissions in Indian institutes.

The numbers tell the story. In 2007-08 the number of Indian students going to universities in the US rose 12.8 per cent to 94,563, making India the largest source of foreign students in the United States. But due to tightening credit markets and a global financial slowdown, Indian students are still finding it tough to secure loans to study abroad, and many are less willing to take on huge amounts of debt.

With the economy on its way to recovery, however, students like Aparna who had previously put their plans of studying overseas on hold, now have a ray of hope. Amid aniticipation on whether Indian students will plan for higher studies in recession-hit countries, many international institutions and governments are keen to offer scholarships to Indian students this year.

Experts advise Indian students seeking financial aid to study abroad, to avail of scholarships or fellowship programmes that are offered by Indian and international universities, governments, corporates and charitable trusts. Students can also blend procured loans with on-campus jobs and apply for scholarships.

Following the racial ‘curry’ attacks in Australia, the Australian government is all set to announce scholarships for students specifically from India, in a bid to promote Australia as a safe education destination. The Victoria government has a $14 million international education strategy out of which it plans to spend $400,000 on international student exchange scholarship programme. The programme is expected to support 20 Victorian and 20 international students to undertake study overseas.

Besides, there are various governments including Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Turkish and Korean, to name a few, which have been offering scholarships to Indian students. Some of the courses under the programmes are conducted entirely in English and do not require the knowledge of the respective national/local language in order to be eligible for the scholarships.

The Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, for instance, has introduced scholarships for PhD students, besides its existing scholarship programmes on fine arts, music, sports and theatre for Indian students aspiring to study in top US, European and UK institutions.

Similarly, New Jersey-based ETS, the creator of TOEFL has come up with the ‘TOEFL India Scholar programme’, which offers seven scholarships up to $10,000 for students planning to pursue studies in the UK, US and Canada in 2010. Under the programme, three $10,000 scholarships and four $5,000 scholarships will be awarded.

“We are pleased to host the programme this year, especially during these hard economic times. Our efforts in recognising academic excellence in India is a part of ETS’ global mission of advancing quality and equity in education. We hope that our scholarship programme will assist students in pursuing their academic dreams regardless of financial status,” says Gena Netten, ETS Manager of English Language Learning.

Other well-known Indian and international organisations offering scholarship programmes include the Tata group’s J N Tata Endowment Scholarships, the Gates scholarship offering scholarships for post graduate studies at Cambridge University, Sir Ratan Tata Fellowship for London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and Felix Scholarships.

Felix will offer up to six scholarships at each of the three universities: University of Oxford, University of Reading, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), for Indian graduates securing admissions in September-October 2009.