Experts who will be attending the International Conference on Inclusive Education and Vocational Options, which is also known as Learn 2012 have declared that around 10% of the children in India suffer from learning disability. In the press conference, that was held before the meet actually began, the experts have maintained that at least 1 Indian among every 200 has autism and around 30 million kids in the country are dyslexic. The best thing to do under such circumstances is to get the problem diagnosed at an early state so that the symptoms in the patient can be minimized through professional intervention.  Learn 2012 is scheduled to begin on the 27^th of January, 2012.

According to Lakshmi Krishnakumar, who is the Learning Disability Director at Sankalp, her organization has successfully been able to bring children who are suffering from autism to the mainstream. The organization is also planning to begin some vocational courses through which such kids can be trained so that they become independent and do not have to rely on anybody else’s help.

There are four experts in this field from the UK who are participating in this international conference. They have a lot of experience in the designing and implementation of the vocational education tools and the various modules through which inclusive education can be made possible. Christine Morris, who is a Special Education Consultant, has worked with teachers in India for around two decades and plans to throw light on the subject as to how to increase the involvement and the engagement of children when they are sitting together in the classroom. There are a lot of kids who are labeled as naughty, rebellious, and lethargic but all of them have separate requirements that need to be addressed.

Source: Based on the article that was published in The Times of India.

Since many decades, students in India have been choosing the UK and the US as international destinations for pursuing higher education. However, along with these common overseas destinations, students can now think of considering Singapore, China, Hong Kong as study-abroad options. Of late, the universities and institutes in these mainland Asian countries are considered as preferred options amongst the Indian students. According to Pratibha Jain, the international education consultant, there are 4 reasons for this change in location preference.

One of the four major factors is the international standard of education. All the universities admitting international students are at par with those of US or UK. The second factor is lower cost of education. The tuition and living expenses in these countries are less than those of the western universities. The third factor is the close proximity of homeland. Students can afford to make multiple trips during vacation to their homeland because of less distance. The fourth one is chance of employment in these Asian countries is easier because of the unprecedented economical growth rate.

According to a current survey done by the Graduate Management Admission Council, it is seen that in the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in the percentage of students sending GMAT scores to these Asian countries. Some of the most preferred study-abroad Asian destinations are –

Singapore

The Singapore based universities known for their high quality educational standards are SMU (Singapore Management University), the National University of Singapore, and the Nanyang Technological University. All these universities have tie-ups with the leading institutes of the world, so the degrees offered by these universities have global recognition. The most popular courses taken by international students in these universities are medicine, science and technology, and arts & design.

China

A country with high economic growth, China is one of the most preferred overseas destinations among the Indians. According to Natasha Chopra, Director of The Chopras (study-abroad education consultancy), China has gained popularity as an international university because of the current rank of the universities among the top 100, as per a survey done by the QS World Ranking of Universities. In 2010, China has seen a soaring record of over 2,60,000 foreign students, as per the statistics given by the Education Ministry. More than 2,000 institutes and universities in the country are well known for their medicine and business programs. According to the Chinese Studies associate professor at JNU, Varaprasad Dolla, the excellent quality education and world class infrastructure make Chinese universities such preferred educational destinations. According to him, Peking University can be compared with that of Harvard, while the technology programs offered by Tsingua University are at par with MIT. Such excellent quality of education in China has been possible due to employment of competent researchers and professors from the UK and US.

Hong Kong

Since the last 2 decades, this country has earned a reputation for having some of the world class institutes. According to a recent survey conducted by the QS rankings, City University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong achieved 15^th and 5^th ranks respectively. According to Varaprasad Dolla, as the education pattern in Hong Kong was planned during the colonial rule, the infrastructure and teaching standards are of international standards. The country is home to 8 universities, funded by the government, where English is used as the medium of instruction. Some of the popular courses amongst Indian students are art & design, bio-sciences, and engineering.

As per some of the present students from India, the main reasons for preference of an Asian university is higher job opportunity, part-time work opportunity for international students, and close proximity of homeland.

Based on an article published in the Hindustan Times

Students in India are now giving it a second thought as to whether pursuing higher studies abroad is a decision worth taking, after the sharp slide of the Indian rupee has forced the banks to cut down on their education loans for the purposes of higher education abroad in anticipation of the gradually receding job market. As the rupee has gone through a substantial depreciation, education overseas has become dearer. According to the Managing Director of the Indian Overseas Bank, M. Narendra, this is going to deter the students from opting for education loans as they will find it more cost effective and affordable to pursue higher studies in India.

K.S. Arvind, who had sent applications to a number of American universities to pursue a bachelor’s degree, was supposed to begin his academic session in the month of January. However, he has decided to postpone it till the next year in the hope that the rupee will strengthen by that time. He also said that though there are chances for the tuition fees to increase, the living expenses can be managed comfortably if the status of the rupee sees some improvement.

There has been a slide of 18% for the rupee over the past year. As compared to the dollar, the rupee was valued at INR 44.72 in the month of January of the year 2011, but it reached INR 53.07 at the end of the year. This is an indicator of the fact that an education loan of INR 1.5 million will be able to yield only US$ 28,000 rather than US$ 33,000.

Sunaina Ghosh, who is currently studying at the University of Delhi and is in her final year, said that she is yet undecided about whether or not she wants to go to the US for her Masters. Due to the fall in the rupee, the course fee has gone up by 20% and the living expenses are likely to increase as well.

Those students who are prepared to shell out the extra money will find it difficult to obtain the education loan. As per the Reserve Bank of India, the lending of such loans has grown only by a meager 17% in the month of October, of the year 2011 in comparison to 24% which was the scenario in October 2010. Credila Financial Services’ Country Head, Prashant Bhonsle stated that the banks are finding it risky to give out education loans due to the constricted job markets as a result of the uncertainty that is ruling the global economy. According to the Chief Executive of Oceanic Consultants, Naresh Gulati, even when the rupee was comfortably placed, the banks had a cautious approach towards the education loans. Now that the rupee has gone through some depreciation, the applicants will find it extremely difficult to convince the banks to grant them the loans.

Every year, an amount close to INR 2 million is lent by the banks in India for the purposes of studying abroad. The loans that are within INR 400,000 do not ask for any collateral but for a sum more than that and within INR 750,000, a third party guarantor is required. Loans that cross the INR 750,000 mark need to have collaterals to back them in the form of gold, property or any kind of asset that is equal to or more than the value of the loan.

EducationUSA Advising Services’ Country Coordinator, Ranuka Raja Rao, however sounded hopeful when she said that getting loans would not be much of a trouble if the students have been enrolled in accredited institutions of the US provided the guarantors, margin and the collaterals are in place. She also maintained that the number of international students has not taken a dip despite the dollar becoming dearer.

Source: Based on the article that appeared in the University World News.