Students abroad: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana leave Delhi, Mumbai far behind
Hyderabad: Hyderabad has beaten more populous metros like Mumbai and Delhi in issuing student visas to the United States, indicating that more Telugus from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are opting for higher studies in the US than from other cities.
According to official figures, of the 86,000 students and exchange visas issued by United States consulates in the country, Hyderabad topped with 27,000 followed by Mumbai and Delhi from October 2014 to September 2015.
This is nearly a 25 per cent increase over last year. During the same period, student visa applications doubled at the US Embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyd-erabad and Kolkata. This trend was more noticeable at the Mumbai and Hyderabad consulates, the two busiest posts for students.
The consulate in Mumbai issued almost 25,000 visas followed by New Delhi with 11,000 to students and exchange visitors from India. US consulate officials have asked students to check www.chea.orgor ope.ed.gov/accreditation for the status of colleges before applying.
The US Department of State’s Education USA network, which has a centre at the Hyderabad consulate, is the official source for information on higher education. Between October 2014 and September 2015, around one lakh people contacted the seven Education USA centres for advice, half of them on phone or email. Apart from that, the centres reached out to about 60,000 students in schools, universities and education fairs.
On the issue of Indian students not being allowed to travel to two US universities, an official comment from the US Consulate Hyderabad said: “We understand that several students admitted to Northwest Polytechnic University and Silicon Valley University may have attended some of the group pre-departure orientations. We do not track composite information on the individual one-on-one consultations as to which universities or colleges were discussed. At this time, the Education USA centres are unaware of any information indicating that the institutions came up in one-on-one consultations.”
