Down memory lane… a decade long journey.
Been there and done that enriches our experiences and helps us tread on
this known path with informed certainty. A narration of the various trends in
international education follows bellow.
I have been following these
trends closely for about 12 years now, as a student in the 1990’s and later as
a global admission consultant. I can vividly relate to how international education has expanded and
spread far and wide globally even to developing countries like South Africa ,
from being a mere concept synonymous with studying in the USA/UK as was the
case with our grandparents, owing majorly due to lack of liberal foreign
policies and the non- availability of English medium instruction.
Today globalization has
evolved global education as well with a dearth of opportunities available to
students and professionals with a wide array of subjects, locations, pricing to
choose from.
Why International Education??
•
The rise in the income levels and global opportunities
in terms of social status
•
New emerging fields
and Increased financing options
•
Availability of low cost destinations like NZ and
Singapore and Europe
•
Preference of Global resources for jobs
You might be overwhelmed to know that the
total number of students travelling to pursue global education each from India
alone is around 100,00,000 !! and it is equally perplexing to choose
from the 3000+ accredited universities that USA alone has to offer , leave
aside the other colleges across the globe. So how does one rummage through this
maze of information overload and be at the right place at the right time. Here
my experience of been a student myself made me wonder what if there was able
guidance provided to students to streamline their application process, answer
their silliest of queries and guide and mentor them to gain admission to a
reputed university.
The
year 2000 saw a lot of players offering
entrance test ( GRE/GMAT/SAT) preparation to necessary to secure admits to
globally reputed universities but lacked the expertize of admission consultants who could advice
students/professionals in their choice of careers to make it large in the
emerging global careers through Masters, Bachelors , MBA’s and PHD degrees.
This advice was offered to students based on either:
·
the student
merit and entrance test scores or
·
through
tie-ups with Universities where the consultants were given hefty commission for
routing students to these universities.
The number of students
travelling abroad has grown by almost 10 – 30 % every year. The admission
consulting market has seen a huge surge in terms of numbers and revenue esp
since last decade , for example I have counselled 250 students in year 2003 and 500 +
students in years 2006 – 2009 each with a revenue growth of 5 times each
year starting with a mere USD 200 per case to about USD 1000 per
case.
Having
placed over 1000+ students globally since the past decade has given me the
confidence of setting up iGradGlobal.in .Since
this industry has been plagued with lack of processes and systems here we would
like to customise/automize the application process for students as much as
possible by providing regular alerts, their own planner(with timelines)and also
make it location independent and run the process through the use of online
media like skype, live chat, webinars and videos conferences etc. for effective
and prompt communication. We would also like to provide assistance to students
with value added services e like Forex , bank loans , health insurance,
ticketing, mobile / internet connectivity , courier etc. and are open to partnering
with the best in the industry.
What sets you apart in this competitive space
of Global Admission Consulting is empathy for the students since you are
handling someone’s career, fair play to provide what a student truly deserves
and offering to be more than a mentor who grooms the student’s overall
development since he/she would be working closely with you for almost over a
year.
Future road map:
There is an upward movement in this industry for those who would like to make
this a career choice or business opportunity
·
The
Entrance Examination Training market is around US$ 2 billion in the US and US $
200 million in India.
·
The US embassy in India has said that the number of
student visas issued has increased by 18%, from 39 ,958 in 2010 to 46 ,982 in 2011
·
This could
expand in the future and prove to be a lucrative investment option.
Hence it is but worth taking this less treaded professional path which touches
the lives of so many youngsters who would be connected with you lifelong
through a never erasable faith, trust, confidence and mutual collaboration thus
generating great good will and word of mouth for future business expansion.
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