Over 1,000 throng US consulate in Mumbai on 'Student Visa Day'

Amid a festive, campus-like atmosphere, over a 1,000 students thronged the US Consulate here to secure visas for pursuing higher education in America on the "Student Visa Day" Wednesday, an official said.

Special college-themed decorations, refreshments and the songs of 36 universities played besides staff dressed in university colours to give applicant students a glimpse of the US campus life were the highlights of the day.

US Consul General in Mumbai Peter Haas, consular staff and experts of United States-Indian Education Foundation were around to answer students' queries and doubts as well as congratulate those who successfully qualified for admission to various American universities.

Indian students comprise the second-largest group of foreign nationals studying in the US with the visa issuance shooting up by 40 percent compared to the same period last year (2013).

"Over 113,000 Indian students currently study in universities around the US, a 16 percent increase over the previous year. We're expecting that number of students to continue to grow since a huge number of Indians are looking to study in the US," said Haas.

"The great thing is that we have over 9,000 schools, universities, and other programs. These are 9,000 possibilities for Indian students, from small schools to large universities - a tremendous range," he pointed out.

He added that some of the benefits of US education system include cutting-edge technology, extensive support services for international students, generous funding opportunities, flexible curricula and hands-on training programs.