Students get the lowdown on studying abroad

NEW DELHI: In a day and age when increasing number of countries across the globe and individual foreign institutes are wooing Indian students with gusto, no discussion on life beyond Delhi University (DU) can probably be complete without shedding some light on the process of acquiring a foreign degree. The last session of the second day's proceedings at the Career Guidance and Education Seminar, organised by The Times of India, was thus devoted to the hows and wheres of studying abroad, with representatives of the Canadian Education Centre (CEC), International Development Programme (IDP), Australia and the United States Education Foundation in India (USEFI), talking about the process and clearing students' doubts. "Commitment, planning and research are the cornerstones of a successful stint in a US university," said Luna Das of USEFI. She talked about liberal arts as a viable option for those looking at overall competency and clearing the oft-made mistake of confusing it with the fine arts. "TOEFL, SAT, GRE and GMAT are some of the tests you need to appear for, depending on what you plan to study. This year onwards TOEFL has become an internet-based test that integrates the speaking test also. It is also important to look beyond just the ivy league," Das stressed. For Australia and Canada, the English test changes to IELTS, though the latter also accepts TOEFL. Amit Malhotra of IDP talked about the wide range of courses available in Australian universities, but with a rider. "Not all universities are good in all areas, so choose judiciously," he said. The best part of Canadian education said Maria Mathai of CEC is that it is cheaper than in other countries and the degrees are recognised all over the globe. Talking about the high-quality research in Canadian universities, she said: "A common example of the kind of products that come from research is the Blackberry that was developed by a group of students and is now used around the world. There are liberal earn-while-you-learn options that can make financial aspects much easier."