72% Study Abroad Aspirants Willing To Choose Hybrid Programs To Save Money Post-Pandemic: Survey By The Economic Times

Article Featured On: The Economic Times,  Financial Express

Over 70 per cent of Indian students who aspire to study abroad are willing to choose hybrid programmes to save money in the post-pandemic scenario, according to a new survey. The survey, which involved over 4,000 overseas education aspirants as respondents, found that 66.8 per cent of the students accepted that the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their overseas study plan.

According to the survey conducted by The WorldGrad, a tech-enabled overseas education platform, “72 per cent of the students have opted for the hybrid-mode (part online-part offline degrees) to bring down the cost of education without compromising the quality of education. This proportion is a massive rise from 55 per cent just a few months back.

It said, “66.8 per cent of the students have accepted the fact that the ongoing pandemic wave has impacted their overseas study plan. In a lot of cases, parents were uncomfortable with their children moving overseas right now due to safety concerns. Not surprisingly, the handling of COVID-19 by destination countries was the third most important criterion while choosing a country for studies.”

The US emerged as the most favoured overseas education destination among Indian students (41 per cent), followed by Canada (21 per cent), Australia (18 per cent) and the UK (16 per cent).

“This signifies a change in trend in favour of two countries, the USA and Australia, both of which had fallen out of favour amongst international students during the pandemic,” the survey said.

It also revealed that at least 58 per cent of the students had a limited understanding of the visa guidelines related to overseas studies. This asymmetry is caused by the pandemic, which has led countries to change their policies time and again.

“The research highlighted information asymmetry, which has been an apparent and critical consequence of the pandemic,” it said.

Author: Deepak Shukla