Don’t opt for shady US varsities: Andhra Pradesh to students

Hyderabad: The AP government said on Tuesday that there was no clarity yet regarding blacklisted US universities and what exactly led to the deportation of the students from the United States.

AP government’s special representative in Delhi, Mr Kambhampati Rama Mohana Rao, on Tuesday asked students not to go to the US universities in question till there was clarity on the issue and the list was out. He said there was information that some students were still travelling to the US to join these varsities on Emirates and other airlines.

After the incidents of students being deported and detained in the US and Abu Dhabi, and Air India stopping students from boarding flights, minister Ashok Gajapati Raju and Mr Rama Mohan Rao met Union minister Sushma Swaraj and sought her intervention. “The minister for external affairs has asked students not to join the blacklisted universities. It is not only a money issue, but their academic life will be spoiled. There is no clarity yet on the blacklisting of universities. I spoke to the US ambassador Richard Rahul Verma. There is some information that the students couldn’t answer questions at US immigration properly. We want to put a stop to this…what went wrong and why did this happen,” he said.

“Ambassador Verma stated that US State and Homeland Security departments were investigating the issue and assured that all necessary action would be taken to ensure that students with valid I-20 visas do not face any issues.

Mr Verma said that approximately 1,35,000 Indian students were pursuing higher education in the US and thousands of Indian students entered American universities every year. He assured that the US government would take all steps to ensure that the academic year of the students was not affected,” he said.

Ms Swaraj said that the degrees or certificates obtained from the blacklisted universities and colleges would not be accepted anywhere in the world and this would destroy the students’ prospects and would also adversely affect them financially. She also emphasised that it was the priority of the government to ensure that the future of the students was safeguarded.

“It is understood that officers who issue American visas might not have had proper information on blacklisted universities and thus issued visas. Students who have traveled to the US with these visas were stopped and questioned by immigration officers in US airports and are being deported back to India as the universities are apparently blacklisted. It is also understood that few students have faltered while answering immigration officers at US airports which resulted in their deportation,” said Mr Rao. Ms Swaraj assured that the list would be furnished shortly. Upon receipt, the same list would be shared with the public, Mr Rao said.