The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Exploring U.S. education options

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Friday, Feb 08, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Exploring U.S. education options

Staff Reporter

American Education Expo 2008 held in city

— PHOTO: K.V. Srinivasan

Options galore: A prospective student interacts with a university representative at the American Education Expo 2008.

CHENNAI: The room was not enough to accommodate the number of potential students who had gathered on Wednesday to explore the possibilities of studying in the U.S. Non-stop questioning followed, making the half-day-long seminar seem short.

‘American Education Expo 2008’, organised by the U.S. embassy in collaboration with the International Student Network (ISN), was held in three Indian cities - Chennai, Mumbai and Ahemadabad. Representatives from 20 colleges and universities across the U.S. participated in the expo.

“Chennai has the biggest market in India,” said ISN’s marketing manager Babish Soni.

“According to U.S. embassy figures, last year 15,000 students from Chennai received a student visa, making up the largest number of students from any State in India,” he said.

Promoting UG courses

Mr. Soni said that this year they were also here to promote undergraduate courses. “Last year, 20 per cent of the total applicants tried for undergraduate programmes. We are seeking to improve this figure.”

Apart from providing an opportunity to meet representatives from various institutions, the expo also exposed the students to a lecture on visa procedures by a representative of the U.S. Embassy in India.

The students were then allowed to interact with the representatives directly at their respective stalls.

Questions ranged from the general, including application requirements, language requirements and selection criteria, to more specific questions on particular courses and research options.

The representative from Washington State University, said that business and engineering courses were the top preferences of Indian students.

One of the students who attended the fair, S. Balaji said he was looking at pursuing a masters degree in ‘networks’. “I came here to have a look at my options and also ask the representatives specific questions,” he said. Balaji, however said that it would have been better if the organisers had arranged for one-on-one interactions.

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