Overseas education specialists have their hands full this academic year. Apart from providing students with tips on getting suitable accommodation opportunities and ways of arranging foreign exchange and getting insurance cover, they are also busy looking for updates about the spread and control of the swine flu virus in India and abroad, encouraging students fly to their respective destinations peacefully.
For instance, keeping in mind the fact that the flights are believed to be the biggest carriers of the swine flu virus, Edwise International has arranged for experts from Jet Airways to brush aside concerns of the students. It also arranged for some university officials from London to address the concerns over the spread of swine flu in the country.
“We are continuously in touch with the universities in the UK, where we will be sending students for the September intake. There is no alarming situation in the UK and everything is under control,” says Nilesh Lal, regional manager, Edwise International.
His reason for concentrating on the UK is that Australia’s ‘curry bashing’ (‘racial’ attacks) appears to have taken a toll on its education business. Educational counsellors, travel agents and industry observers say 50-60 per cent of students who planned to apply for admission this November are now being guided to alternate destinations like the UK and Canada. Admission of students to Australia takes place three times a year — February, July and November. Since the Australian High Commission takes almost three months to issue visas, intakes for July are over, and the November figures are seeing a huge decline.
“There has been a major drop in the number of students going to Australia this year: Out of them, a majority have chosen not to go to Australia because they do not have relatives or friends there to bank on in case of any mishappening. We are counselling students going to Australia to adapt to the new culture there and to gel with the people. We arranged for an alumni-student interaction to ensure that students are well prepared before heading for their chosen destinations, which will help them tackle any situation once they reach another country,” asserts Lal.
Other consultants feel likewise. “We are going to emphasise on swine flu this year during the pre-departure programmes for students going abroad. As far as the racial attacks are concerned, the number of students going to Australia has definitely dropped. Of the total students who travel to Australia every year, over 60 per cent are now going to other countries and at least 35 per cent is going to the UK. In fact, students who had earlier decided on Australia as a study destination, have now turned to UK. Those who have decided to go abroad will go, irrespective of the attacks or the swine flu, but we will ensure that we prepare them for their stay abroad through our orientation programme,” concurs Ashok Pillai, general manager, Planet Education.
Siddharth Jain, vice president, marketing, Education Worldwide India, echoes the opinions of the other consultants, “For the students going to any foreign country this year, I would personally brief that they should try to be friendly with the people of other countries as well as the natives. In our pre-departure sessions, we will try to neutralise the minds of the students and tell them that they should go out with an open mind. As for the swine flu scare, it is a curable disease and the students should just take the precautions.”
