 "Indian students not deterred by violence in Ukraine; medicine one of the most popular courses")
Two Indian students at the Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine were stabbed to death on Sunday while another sustained injuries in the attack.
The attack was allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals.
The deceased have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.
While the United States, Britain, Australia come to mind when thinking of aspiring Indian youngsters seeking quality international education, Ukraine might not be the most obvious destination of choice.
However, according to a Firstpost report from earlier this year, there are around 30,000 Indian students studying in Ukraine during any year.
The ongoing troubles in the Eastern European country do not seem to have blunted the enthusiasm of aspiring Indians students.
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In June of 2015, the lives of nearly a 100 Indian students, most of them training to be doctors in eastern Ukraine, were put in danger as Ukrainian armed forces and Russian backed separatists continued to clash in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
According to a report by The Times of India, a senior Ukrainian minister had confirmed that the students had refused to leave the area when the government tried to evacuate them.
According to the same report, while explaining the situation, Ukraine's health minister had revealed that there were a total of 3,943 Indian students studying medicine in Ukraine at that time.
In fact, despite repeated warnings by the Ukrainian government, some students who had been evacuated from areas where the conflict was raging decided to "make their way back to the battle zone", India's ambassador to the country had informed ToI.
Medicine, in fact, appears to be one of the most attractive courses offered by Ukrainian varsities as far as Indian students are concerned.
When the conflict in Ukraine began in earnest is 2014, around 1,038 Indian students, who had been studying at the Luhansk State Medical University at that time, had to be evacuated, according to the Indian ambassador to Ukraine.
Ukraine's popularity as a destination for higher education can be explained, in part, due to the relatively lower cost, both in terms of tuition fee and living costs, borne by the students going there.
According to the official website of the 'Study in Ukraine' project – run in cooperation with numerous Ukrainian universities based on mutual agreement – $1,200-1,500 would be sufficient for an international student to cover his or her living costs in Ukraine for a whole year.
This is a fairly modest figure in comparison to the yearly estimated living expenses, as calculated by Indiaeducation.net, of 10,630 pound sterling for an Indian student studying in the UK.