Boon for NRI Students

Boon for NRI Students

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International Students-in-the-UK

Meghna Agarwal talks to top educationists in Pune to find out why Pune is the most preferred destination for the foreign students.

Pune, the educational hub for the entire India for the last 100 years, the seat of education from the times of the Peshwas, the city which has been thronged by lakhs of students across the nation, which has been more popular than Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, or any other city of the country and is labeled as the Oxford of the East, seems to have become the educational hub for multitudes of NRI students as well.

“Out of 40k international students that come in pursuit of education to India, as much as 19k students from 18 different countries are studying in the colleges of Pune. The NRI students prefer Pune, which is the cradle of higher education in India,” founder and president of Symbiosis International University (SIU) S B Majumdar said.

 Pune as a student destination is attracting a steady stream of foreign students year after year. In fact the University of Pune has been the first to set up an international student centre. The University is home to a large number international student population. “In the last 10 years there have been more than 15, 000 foreign students who have graduated from the University,” University of Pune Vice-Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar said.

“Students come in large numbers from Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Vietnam and Tanzania to our University,” founder and president Symbiosis International University (SIU) S B Majumdar said who established the entire university from scratch in the year 1971.

Standard of living

The reason why NRI students flock to Pune in large numbers is mainly because its climate is equitable, standard of living is less on their pockets as compared to the metro cities of Mumbai and Delhi.

International Students-in-the-UK“Along with an equitable weather, and varied education options there exists a rich cultural and social life for the students as well. 200k students from 40 different countries including India are currently pursuing distance learning courses from the Symbiosis International University. SIU is planning the opening up of an off shore campus in Muscat soon. Symbiosis initially in 1971 started as a Cultural Centre to strengthen the ties between the Indian and foreign students,” Majumdar said.

Similarly, Indira group of Institutes, which was established under the aegis of Shree Chanakya Education Society (SCES) as a trust in 1994, claims to get students from Bahrain, African, Iran and Gulf countries. “We have 200 foreign students from Bahrain, African and Gulf countries,” Indira group founder and Chairperson Tarita Shankar said.

Sinhgad Technical Education Society, one of Pune’s premier educational institute, which runs schools, 6 engineering colleges, medical colleges and 15 business schools in Pune has foreign students from 27 countries to its credit. “We get students from Asia, Dubai, Nepal, Australia, and New Zealand. Currently we have about 700 foreign students,” Sinhgad Technical Education Society Director Parag Kalkar said.

Pune’s status as an education hub for NRI students is well deserved. While the number of foreign students has increased, one major change is that Pune is also receiving students from developed European countries, which was not the case earlier. “It is because our institutes are keeping pace with the changing education scenario and needs of industry,” Tarita Shankar said.

Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University claims to have students from more than 30 countries including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Dubai, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nepal, Oman, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA, Yemen and many others.

Educational Institutes

Pune has more than a hundred educational institutes and nine universities in total. The University of Pune boasts of 40 departments. There exists SNDT Women’s University, a strictly all women university, and the Government College of Engineering, India’s oldest Engineering University. Pune has Universities like Bharati Vidyapeeth, SIU, Gokhale Institute of Economics and Political Science, Deccan College and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth.

Pune, being an education hub having the largest number of universities and lots of management institutes mushrooming here, obviously attracts a large number of students from across the country as well. Pune has been a great host and home to people from all over the country and abroad. They have scripted the journey of this city into a fine cosmopolitan place, thanks to defence installations, industry hubs, foreign collaborations and education facilities.

Pune has been the seat of education since the times of the Peshwas, most known for, culture and education. Peshwas were intellectual, artistic and literary people therefore they insisted on the development of more and more educational institutes. Educational institutes were built to spread literacy amongst the commoners of the Empire. Pune till date enjoys that literary status and is viewed as the hub of education.

“Pune has been the educational hub since hundreds of years because of its climate and education. Though Pune is in proximity to Mumbai, but in Mumbai there is no readily available land while Pune supports educational growth as well as industry growth. It has been able to retain its popularity over the years, which makes people across the country move to Pune,” Parag Kalkar said.

But the reason why Pune over the years has remained as the seat of education is because of the fact that the colleges have adapted with changing times. The colleges have introduced new courses every year as per the requirements and demands of the industry. “The college has to keep an eye on the trend in education and adjust and make required changes accordingly. During some period pharmacy does well and in some phase engineering does well. In a phase, PG courses do well. We need to be adaptable and introduce some buffers. While in one phase there is an upswing in a course, in other phase its numbers may drop down. We need to introduce new courses from time to time,” Tarita Shankar said.

Oxford of the East

This is one of the reasons why along with the horde of foreign students, Pune has always been the Oxford of the East for the rest of the India even in the times when Mumbai was a province. “This is inevitable from the fact that Fergusson College of Pune has produced two Prime Ministers of our nation, Narsimha Rao and V P Singh,” Majumdar said.

“More than 2 lakh students from other states, more from northern states, also from south India pursue higher education from Pune. At any given point of time, there are as many as 9 lakh students studying in the city at the same time,” Majumdar added.

The culture of Pune has attained a cosmopolitan character considering the influx of a large number of people from all states and cities of the country. It has a number of institutes both educational and vocational listed to its credit and is amongst the fastest growing cities in the county.

“Along with good infrastructure fully residential campuses have come up at various places in the city and added to that the equitable weather and low cost of living are a bonus which helps people to easily adjust to the city,” Kalkar said.

Along with the education, students also get to explore the possibilities in various language courses, music, yoga, dance, etc. in Pune which is the USP of the city. The eighth largest city in India and the second largest in the state of Maharashtra, Pune, is a charming town known for its rich and vibrant culture. Also called the cultural capital of Maharashtra, Pune lies close to the Western Ghat Mountains and is just a short distance away from the exotic hill stations of the west like Lonavala, Khandala and Mahabaleshwar which adds to its USP.

Film & TV Institute

Pune is home to India’s several top colleges and institutions. There are a number of Mass Communication Colleges, with Film and Television Institute of India being the most popular throughout the country. The city offers some of the country’s top Medical Colleges, Armed Forces Medical College being one amongst the many.

Symbiosis, which has become a brand name in itself, acknowledged for its career oriented courses and regarded as one of the top notch Indian universities has been imparting quality education over the past 30 years. SIU has established 37 academic institutions spread across 9 campuses in and around Pune.

University of Pune as well has played a vital role in this regard with the University having enjoyed patronage from eminent scientists, industrialists, social reformers, and the Government of Maharashtra. Formerly known as the University of Poona, it is one of the oldest universities of India founded in 1949 and happens to be one of India’s premier universities. It is home to as many as 46 academic departments and has been given the highest “A” rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for its overall performance. In 1949 there were only 18 colleges affiliated to the university (including famed colleges such as the Film and Television Institute of India, S. P. College, Wadia College, Garware College, Fergusson College, College of Engineering, Pune with an enrollment of over 8000 students. Thereafter, University of Pune has had tremendous growth in the last 60 years. Today, the university has about 600 colleges under it spread across 3 districts, along with 300 management institutions.

The infrastructure facilities, rich knowledge resource from industry and educational background of the city are encouraging a number of colleges in the city. Indira group plans to come up with a residential school , a complete set of colleges, with law college and undergraduate college in Pune.

Suryadatta group founded in 1999, which runs a clutch of educational institutes, is also planning to come up with an engineering college in the next 2-3 years. “We will come up with a residential day boarding school and an engineering college in 2-3 years of time,” Suryadatta group’s founder president and Chairman Sanjay Chordiya said.

Sinhgad Technical Society recently established a medical college and dental college, which have as many as 10 operation theatres and 1500-1800 OPDs are run in one day, which is a feat in itself. “We have tied up with European Union for our medical college faculty to go for post doctoral research to the European countries,” Kalkar said. The future plans of the Society include a residential campus in 175 acres of land and two colleges for MBA and MCA.

Country’s leading B-schools have set up or are setting up their new campuses in the city, seeing the high potential of the city with respect to employment and industry growth. Thus there is a growth in the MBA entrance exam preparation institutes as well. In June this year Erudite, an MBA test preparation Institute, launched two new branches in Pune.

Population Increase

The fact that Pune uniquely remains a hub for students from all across the globe can be gauged from the fact that during 1991-2001, its population increased by a whopping 50.08 per cent. Getting such a huge number of students from across the globe has its own pros and cons. If we debate whether the population increase in itself is good for the city there can be many views to it.

“Student population is continuously increasing but corresponding facilities are not available. There are 200 plus colleges in Pune, but infrastructural similar numbers of hostels are not available. Time has come to expand the city further and build something like New Pune on the lines of Navi Mumbai, which can be known as the knowledge city,” Majumdar said.

“Getting students from different cultures adds up to the good educational environment which is good for the city,” Chordiya said.

“I read in a magazine that these students who come from all across the globe to Pune bring indirect money to the city when they rent accommodation and arrange for mess facilities. This indirect money that they have brought to the city amounts to as much as Rs 800 crore per year which definitely is a benefit to the city,” Kalkar said.

When all is well with the students who come to Pune, the educational institutes who are building up in large numbers in the city and to the economy of the city, everybody hopes that the trend continues for another hundred years to come. “The only thing that the colleges need to keep in mind is that they need to impart quality education. Many institutions like Fergusson College, Engineering College of Pune and the new institutions in competition to them need to keep the quality of education in mind. The trend of quality education with no compromise on the same needs to continue, else people will start looking for new options,” University of Pune’s, which celebrated its 60th anniversary, VC R K Shevgaonkar said.

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