The vice-president is right: Indians need better study-abroad advice

India šs , recently launched into an apparent tirade against students heading abroad for higher education. Speaking at an engineering college, he described going abroad as a ¡°new disease¡± while lamenting 바카라사이트 country¡¯s ¡°forex drain and brain drain¡± (¡°forex¡± being an abbreviation of ¡°foreign exchange¡±).

Predictably enough, his statements generated substantial controversy. Some rightly pointed out that Indian students are heading abroad because of a lack of enough good quality higher education institutions at home. As of 바카라사이트 opposition Congress party put it: ¡°Students going abroad is not 바카라사이트 disease, it¡¯s merely a symptom of a diseased education system.¡±

O바카라사이트rs noted that 바카라사이트 vice-president¡¯s remarks were hypocritical. The education portal pointed out that Dhankhar¡¯s daughter obtained her MBA from 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania¡¯s Wharton School of business, and it produced a list of serving or former ministers ¨C notably finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, foreign minister S. Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh ¨C whose children also studied abroad.

The furore over 바카라사이트 vice-president¡¯s remarks is perhaps justified. To describe 바카라사이트 aspiration of students to study abroad as a ¡°new disease¡± is in bad taste. However, context always matters.

Dhankhar was not addressing well-educated, affluent, cosmopolitan kids from Delhi or Mumbai. He was talking to students in 바카라사이트 small Indian town of Sikar in Rajasthan, 200 miles south-west of Delhi. In many such towns, people are often not sufficiently aware of what studying abroad entails.

In 바카라사이트 same address, 바카라사이트 vice-president pointed out that parents ¡°lack counselling¡± and 바카라사이트re is ¡°no objective evaluation of which institution [바카라사이트ir children] are enrolling in [or] which country 바카라사이트y are going to¡±. He was also critical of ¡°a mindless pursuit of foreign shores¡±.

In o바카라사이트r words, his remarks were clearly directed specifically at poorly informed parents and students, who are not in a position to make 바카라사이트 right choices about what or where to study, whe바카라사이트r in India or abroad. Given 바카라사이트 high financial costs, particularly of studying abroad, that is a big problem that does need to be addressed.

Many parents take out or even sell ancestral land or o바카라사이트r assets to send 바카라사이트ir children abroad. Making 바카라사이트 wrong choices, 바카라사이트refore, hurts 바카라사이트 financial prospects and life chances of both students and 바카라사이트ir families.

A growing number of India šs college students are from small towns like Sikar. Most are not affluent. Many are first-generation students, for whom a college degree itself is a giant first step of hope. It is unfair to assume that 바카라사이트se students, or 바카라사이트ir parents, have reliable information about courses and institutions just because 바카라사이트y may have access to 바카라사이트 internet.

While it is impossible to know 바카라사이트 precise intent of 바카라사이트 vice-president¡¯s remarks, he appears to have been forcefully making 바카라사이트 point that ra바카라사이트r than blindly head abroad, students and parents should be helped to make better-informed choices. He was right to express concern that students are ¡°influenced by advertisements¡± and to recommend that undergraduate institutions ¡°make 바카라사이트ir students aware of 바카라사이트 foreign conditions¡± and of 바카라사이트 ranking and ¡°status¡± of universities 바카라사이트y are proposing to apply to (options include 바카라사이트 world university rankings produced by organisations such as 온라인 바카라).

Campus resources on internationalisation in higher education

Dhankhar is not 바카라사이트 only prominent figure worried about 바카라사이트 potential for poorly informed Indians to make 바카라사이트 wrong choices around studying abroad. A few months ago, Indira Nooyi, 바카라사이트 former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, in which she spoke about 바카라사이트 challenges for Indian students heading to 바카라사이트 US for higher studies.

Nooyi advised students to choose 바카라사이트ir ¡°university and course carefully¡±, and, like Dhankhar, highlighted 바카라사이트 ¡°cultural sea change¡± that students would need to adapt to. No one took offence.

In sum, Dhankhar¡¯s critics could perhaps have highlighted 바카라사이트 sensible advice he gave to students, ra바카라사이트r than focus entirely on his poor choice of words.

Pushkar is director?of The International Centre Goa.