Freshmen On The Boat

What?Where?Why? Our Guide to University and business school abroad.

- Harini Prasad

GOING abroad for higher education, especially for postgraduate courses, is a dream that many Indian students pursue, and most see it as the first step towards landing a career of choice. The rise in the number of international schools with boards such as Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and International Baccalaureate (IB), has also seen an increase in undergraduate applications to universities abroad. But whether or not to study abroad is more a question of ‘What’s right for my future’ than of ‘Is it the right decision’. That is to say, there is no easy or right answer; it is a matter of an individual’s goals, needs and means.

You have to ask yourself what advantages studying abroad presents you. While this will vary based on personal circumstances, you have to answer several questions before you decide. Some of them are:

Why or should I go abroad?

Where should I go?

What universities I can attend?

In general, the quality of education you will receive abroad is very high. This does not necessarily mean that there will be more hours of classes a week or more home work. In fact, in many cases it means the opposite. But education abroad is more self-driven and research-based than in India, with the final grades based on several different activities through the year rather than a final exam. For example, the UK has fewer class hours as you get more advanced, encouraging students to do their own research and write papers. As a result, in several universities in the UK, such as Southampton, students who graduate with an bachelor’s degree in the sciences are considered advanced enough to apply for a Ph.D.