Survey suggests 68 per cent of  Class XI and XII students prefer higher studies in home country

About 68 per cent of over 3,000 Class XI and XII students who participated in a recent survey said they preferred higher education in their home country, a sharp increase of 24 percentage points from last year.

More than 6,600 students between grades IX and X from 2,000 schools across India and South Asia responded to the survey titled Student Quest Survey Report. Overall this year, 25 per cent of the total students are planning to go abroad for higher studies, which is four percentage points lower than last year.

The survey was conducted by Shiv Nadar University, Noida, and International Career and College Counseling (IC3) Institute, a volunteer organisation that provides support to high schools around the world through guidance and training resources for high school administrators, teachers and counsellors.

Among grade IX and X students, 49 per cent preferred to study in their home countries, while 24 per cent were undecided, said the report, highlighting the importance of counseling in early grades and making the right information available to students as they evaluate their options.

According to the Student Quest Survey, students begin thinking about their career and related job prospects early in high school itself. "Seventy-one per cent of the students have already started thinking about their future employment. The top three factors in choosing a university include the institution's placement record, rankings, and program design. Ranked fourth were fees, followed by location and the quality of faculty members," the survey report said.

It said the quality of faculty as a factor for choosing a university was low-ranked by grade 9 and 10 students, while those in grades 11 and 12 ranked it significantly higher. "When choosing a particular program, three factors seem to be most significant: about 35 per cent of the respondents said that they would choose a program based on their interests, 27 per cent favoured future job prospects, and 21 percent give the highest importance to their own perceived strength in a particular area of study," the report said.

As much as 83 per cent of the students choose “quality of education” as the biggest reason to choose universities outside of their home countries. "Students, who are on the verge of adulthood, have to make crucial decisions that can shape their careers and, indeed, lives.

Understanding how that choice is made, who influences that, what information they use, what factors play important roles, will not only help institutions, schools and universities alike to design better programs and processes, but will also enable us to help these students alleviate their anxiety and make better choices," said Partha Chatterjee, Professor and Head, Department of Economics, Shiv Nadar University.