Chennai: US president Donald Trump’s effort to tighten immigration rules and the UK’s imminent exit from the European union has now made Germany an attractive destination for youngsters and job seekers from Chennai, say industry sources involved with higher education and overseas job offers.
According to German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) sources, the number of Indian students in Germany has doubled in the past five years making Indians the second largest group of international students enrolled at German universities.
In 2008-09, 3,516 students traveled from India and this figure in 2014-15 jumped to 11,860. In 2016-17 the figures touched an all-time high of 16,694 with most students coming from Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, sources said adding that German academy exchange also conducts students programmes in Tirunelveli to tap more students from southern Tamil Nadu.
“The interest in US as a desired student destination has decreased. I have a lot of youngsters coming to me for a change of plan- they were originally planning to go study in the US, but now they are unsure and look out for other alternatives,” said Hema Subramaniam, founder-CEO, Live Connections.
Students are unsure as reports of increased xenophobic attitude hit the news. They feel India or another country may be a better option. In fact, Germany is actually wooing STEM (Science, tech, engineering and management) students, encouraging them to study and thereafter work in Germany. At least there is a 10 per cent drop in students who originally intended to study in US, Hema said.
Though there is some uncertainty over US, the situation looks bright in other English speaking countries. Further, India has been a key factor behind growth momentum in International student mobility market especially in countries, where English is the national language. Germany is now providing more degree courses in English medium and this enables Indians to consider Germany”, explains Chennai based English language trainer Sindu Sriram.
Last year alone more than 3.6 lakh students have traveled abroad for studies and the demand for Germany and New Zealand is growing, said Sindu.
Tamil Nadu contributes to on an average of 8 to10 per cent of IELTS and Pearson Test of English takers in India, of this Chennai and Coimbatore contributes the maximum number of students. All these takers now consider Germany, Australia and Canada as a destination for higher studies and job offers, she adds.
