Viral Doshi, one of the most prominent education consultants in the city of Mumbai, has many feathers in his cap. The education consultancy veteran, who has assisted thousands of students in their study journey abroad, understood after his days as an engineering grad at Cornell where the rest of his career lies.
“ I started my career in education consultancy in 2005-06. We started off with identifying career paths and creating 4-year career maps for students,” said Doshi, who added that mentoring students is a skill and the advent of the internet has created a level playing field wherein students from all backgrounds can avail international education.
“If you see now, students from Tier-2, Tier-3, cities, which includes Gorakhpur and Surat, are primary candidates to study abroad . There are four primary factors which have facilitated the increasing number of Indian students abroad - Foreign exchange programmes, Internet, setting up of international schools, and growing affluence,” stated Mr.Doshi, who noted the interest in courses such as Data Science and Artificial Intelligence among students with fees going up to anywhere between 80-90k dollars for studying in the US, 50-60k for studying in Canada, and around 60k dollars for studying in the UK.
Lack of good colleges:
Doshi also pointed out the lack of good Indian colleges in the past decade or so which can and has posed a problem for students who want to aim for higher education. “I can say that private institutions such as Ashoka, Flame, Symbiosis, NMIMS etc, are at par with some of the colleges in popular study destinations such as the US, UK, Canada but we need more such institutions in the country so that Indian students can complete their higher education rather than looking for greener pastures elsewhere,” said Doshi who believes the government needs to partner with the private sector to establish good quality universities in India rather than rely on a few to cater to the needs of the students and also expects more tax sops in the education field which can emulate the success of a few Indian universities across many. “Medicine, Law, Architecture, CA, Business and Commerce are programmes that have a lot of scope in India and students who enter these fields tend to continue their education here rather than going abroad,” added Doshi.
Countries prioritised by Indian students
While metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, are often considered to be the places where most residents look for opportunities to study abroad and are successful at the same, according to Viral that’s not the case entirely. “We have seen some of the best results coming from students residing in Jaipur, Nagpur, Surat, Indore, and Coimbatore. They do often make it to top colleges in the West,” said Viral who also broke down the numbers game when it comes to which countries are being prioritised by Indian students. “Out of let’s say about 100%- about 70 % are going to the US, another 25 % to Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc, and then if you look at the numbers closely remaining 5% are choosing Netherlands, Germany, etc though Europe is still not a popular destination among Indians. Many students from East India choose Asian countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong,” articulated Doshi who added that the reason why the US is still on top is because it still offers flexibility and job placements to students whereas in the UK you have limitations on how many universities you can apply to, with the number not exceeding five. Canada, according to him, is still good for students who are also aiming for Permanent Residency in the country.
Where can parents focus?
Though the increasing trend of Indian students studying abroad indicates a positive direction in the sector, Doshi also wants to caution parents. “Parents have to realise that they can’t solely focus on the profile building of their children, the priority at the end of the day is academics. SATS, and academics overall account for 60% of your total evaluation,” said Doshi who added that he is involved with many workshops and seminars that provide guidance to parents and students but lack of information among the former while also having the tendency to follow other parents need to be looked into.
Consortium that can focus on fraudulent activities
He also proposed a body that focuses on providing a licensed platform for counsellors and consultants to avoid any form of fraudulent activities. “With the presence of numerous consultants in the field, it’s better to have a consortium which helps in licensing and regulating them so that there are fewer instances of students and parents being defrauded. It’s important to pool our resources to start this sort of an association,” said Doshi, who added that the Ministry of Education can also play a role in setting up this consortium.
How Psychometric tests can provide a good perspective to students?
The former manufacturing businessman turned Counsellor and now an author, Doshi also explained how Psychometric tests, which are often used to measure an individual's mental capabilities and behaviour, can provide a good perspective to students. “Psychometric tests can give a good grip to children and students alike on what they really want. It can help set lifelong goals for students,” said Doshi about the test which often measures the ability of candidates through personality questionnaire, aptitude (or ability) test, situational judgement test, diagrammatic reasoning, numerical reasoning, critical thinking test, verbal reasoning test, and more. “But it’s important that counsellors know how to interpret these tests as it needs seasons of experience,” added Doshi who praised schools who have in-house counsellors as the result is much better and equated it to how clients should be treated, i.e. like your own child.
More women aspirants in STEM courses
With more women aspiring for STEM courses, the concept of not sending girl students abroad has also diminished. “We are seeing more Women STEM aspirants than ever before and the situation is way better than what it was just 10 years ago,” stated Doshi who added that broadly university applications need to be balanced. “Students often think cracking the SATs and earning good marks is it, but some universities also look at your marks from 9th and 10th. So applications, in general, have to be balanced,” Doshi, who also hit students with reality regarding their University choices, especially the ones in the US. “You are not always going to enter the University you dreamt of. Many students in America, who have consulted with us, remain unhappy with the University they have got into just because it was not their first preference. This just proves that the competition is tougher than ever,” exclaimed Doshi, who also released his new book, 'Indian Roots, Ivy Admits: 85 Essays that Got Indian Students into the Ivy League and Stanford' co-authored with Mridula Maluste, last year, which gives a sneak-peek into some of the best essays that have paved the way for students in top Ivy league colleges and will help future aspirants in drafting successful overseas education applications.
