Tag: abroad

MMA Schools Survey: Business and Commerce overtake Engineering as top choices

More Indian students are opting for Business and Commerce as their first choice for undergraduate studies abroad. Yes, this preference seems to be higher than Engineering courses also.

This is one of the most surprising finds of the latest MM Advisory survey of top schools in India. Every year, MMA conducts a comprehensive, one-of-its kind survey among school counselors across the Top 100 schools in India. We will be releasing the full report in a few weeks.

Business as new favorite

40% of the survey respondents indicated Business and Commerce related programs are the top choices for students now for undergraduate studies. While MBA has always been one of the top choices for post-graduate studies, but this is a new trend at the undergraduate level.

There could be several factors at play here, including macro trends such as the growing Indian economy with fast-growing, new business opportunities. That’s probably naturally feeding into the aspirations of students, seeking the most promising options for their future.

To be sure, Engineering was still the top choice for 28% of the respondents, with Computer Science and IT being opted by 16% of students as their first choice.

Our analysis of responses shows that while top preference might be seeing this shift to Business, but Engineering still holds the top position as the second-best choice for students.

These are both healthy trends. Students are now exploring a wider range of choices in courses just as they are widening their choice of countries beyond the US. In recent years, especially last year, Canada has emerged as a hot, new destination for students in India.

Read here why Canada is among the top-choices for students in India.

Hot, new course options

1 in 12 respondents in the survey said Biology, Biotech and Life Sciences as their first option. That’s an encouraging trend, especially since there are a lot of top-quality universities beyond the US to choose from. In Canada, for instance, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Alberta and University of British Columbia are top-ranked universities which offer strong choices in these courses.

Hospitality and tourism, and animation & graphics design are other hot emerging preferences for undergraduate studies abroad. With the rise of entertainment economy and rapid growth of digital media, students see these courses as great options for attractive

career growth now. Again, in animation, Canada is considered as the #1 destination country in the world, with Sheridan College and Vancouver Film School being the most sought-after programs in animation and graphics design by students from all over the world.

The MMA survey revealed a host of other new trends about the changing preferences among students in India looking to pursue undergraduate studies abroad. Wider course choices, and more countries are very healthy trends that show students are willing to look at much wider set of choices than in the past.

If you are looking for advice on options in Canada, call us at +91 8527816109 or write to us at enquiry@mdotm.in.

1 in 6 students from India now going to Canada

Is this number big enough? Well, this is just half of the number of students who go to the US. So yes, Canada has emerged as probably the top choice for students for after the US – though in some cases, preference for some of the UK universities remains higher.

At MM Advisory, we release an annual report of overall numbers to the top countries where Indian students go every year. We do an overall who gained and who lost over several years to establish the overall trend.

Take a look at the chart below. In the past 5 years, Australia and UK numbers have dropped in total by about 64,000 students compared to previous years. Canada was the highest gainer, having increased students from India by over 41,500.

With over 645,000 international students in Australia in 2015, the country surpassed its previous high reached in 2009
With over 645,000 international students in Australia in 2015, the country surpassed its previous high reached in 2009

This was until 2015 – the 2016 numbers are even higher, and this year, the story is even more positive. As the political environment in the US has deteriorated, there is a drop in students looking at US universities as their first option.

Top universities and colleges in Canada are reporting nearly 50% increase in the number of applications compared to 2016. Australia still continues to get more numbers than Canada, but the gap is closing between the #2 and Canada, which is #3 in terms of overall student numbers from India.

There are two big reasons why studying in Canada has emerged as a strong preference in recent times for Indian students.

Lower cost of education than US

On average, US universities are more expensive by about 50% compared to Canada. The difference is largely in terms of tuition costs. This has always been a lesser known fact about Canada – the fees in colleges and universities have been much lower there.

Canadian institutions have never really marketed themselves strongly in India (though that has begun to change in recent years). So students and counselors never researched Canadian universities as serious options.

Studying in Canada is not only cheaper, but you have world-class options to choose from.

Canadian universities are world-class

Reuters just released the list of the Top 100 Most Innovative Universities globally. Two of the top Canadian universities are featured in this list, University of Toronto and University of British Columbia (UBC).

Here’s a fact about UBC – it enrolls the third-largest number of international students in the entire North America including the US universities. And who gets the highest numbers? University of Toronto – which is also one of the most innovative universities globally (New York University gets more students than UBC).

So there you have it – not only are Canadian universities top quality, as attested by global rankings such as the Reuters, but they also score very high on their international students to domestic students’ ratio.

1 in 4 students in UBC is an international student. That’s higher than most US universities.

Higher ratio of international students also means better support systems for students from outside the country and better intercultural understanding and diversity.

So start researching more about options in Canada. Depending on your requirements and course preferences, there are over 100 universities to choose from, who offer over 400 different subjects.

If you are looking for advice on options in Canada, call us at +91 8527816109 or write to us at enquiry@mdotm.in.