Indian student flow to US could rise

Universities in the United States can absorb a lot more foreign students depending on their merit profile, and the students could get admitted at universities located at places not very familiar to Indian students today.

"Universities still have excess capacity for students with academic excellence. The main focus is now to have Indian students at all places in the US for they are now concentrated in a few states", said Adnan A Siddiqi, counsellor for cultural affairs, US Embassy.

He was speaking at the US Educational Foundation in India organised 'Study America fest' in Kolkata as part of international education week celebrations.

The programme highlighted opportunities of higher studies in the US through informative and interactive sessions.

The US department of education is organising IEW in more that 85 countries. Referring to the large number of Indian students studying in the US, he said students from India constituted more than 13 per cent of the total foreign students studying there.

The University of Columbia at South Carolina appeared to be one of the most preferred universities, whereas California and New York were the most preferred states for foreign students. The US had become more popular as a destination for higher studies after the 9/11 incident, Siddiqui said. Universities had seen an increase in the number of students since.

"It is true students are opting for some new countries, but most of them are using the American style of education and teaching to get students, like Singapore", said Siddiqi.

There was ample scope for Indian students in the US.

In addition to direct university funding, there were schemes like the Fulbright scholarships, said Siddiqi.

The scholarship schemes were expanding, he added.

Most students from India went for post graduate doctoral programmes. The number of students going for computer science course had tapered off as it was no longer growing as fast as an industry segment globally as it did in the past.

USEFI launched videos on the formalities, test details and guidance for standardised tests like test of English as foreign language (TOEFL), graduate record test (GRE) and graduate management admission test (GMAT) at IEW.