What should the educators be doing to tap into the Indian market?

A recent report by British council reveals that Indian students are keen to study abroad but are extremely cost sensitive and we can expect them to be even more sensitive considering the devaluation of INR.

It is estimated that the average cost of study abroad has increased $10,000/year and only 0.4% of Indian families can afford that

If Asian educators and recruiters play it right, this could mean a huge shift in the landscape.

Asian universities could tap this opportunity by increasing the perceived value for money along with the governments taking radical steps to communicate to the Indian students, one clear message, that their countries can offer the same quality education at a much lower cost as compared to Europe, Australia and Americas.

Institutions could create more flexible payment methods for international students along with targeted scholarships and bursaries

The same Study reveals that Indian students give a lot of weightage to the host country's employment policies for international students while studying or once they finish their degree.

Last year the number of Indian students in UK decreased by 23% mainly because of the removal of post study employment opportunities.

Number of international students in Canada have increased by 23% because the country is perceived to be a great option for permanent migration

Educators should be constantly lobbying with their governments to ensure that employment policies for international students should be as lenient as possible along with robust post study visa programmes.

Australian educators have been successfully lobbying with policy makers and have managed to relax student employment policies.

As a result of these employment friendly policies, Australia has seen a 36% increase in Indian students in the last year.

High quality courses and institutions remained by far the greatest pull factor for the students when choosing whether to study at home or abroad.

Germany has seen a 19% increase in Indian students because Indian students see Germany as offering world-class education & opportunities in the automotive, engineering, and manufacturing industries

Educators need to emphasize more on improving the quality of courses being offered by them along with a focus on using alumni experiences and success stories in their communications.

They need to work closely with the private sector to ensure a meaningful internship program along with a functional and effective placement department.

This would help build confidence among students and decrease the trust deficit.