Alien Invasion - Foreign Students in India.
Alien Invasion
Foreign Students in Bangalore
By Omar Shariff
Countries in the Middle East and Africa are not generally known for the quality of their higher education. As a result, many college-going students from these countries seek education abroad. India is a preferred destination, not just because of the many colleges available, but also because education is cheap. One of the major reasons for this is the publicity given by the 6.5 million Indians residing in the Gulf and East Africa.
Among Indian cities, Bangalore is a much choice destination. Sources at the Foreigners Registration office say that there are around 1250 foreign students registered in Bangalore.
“It's cool”, says Udaya, a 1st BA student of Christ College from Sri Lanka, describing Bangalore.
Momin and Bassim, computer science students from Oman explain, “Bangalore has a reputation as the Silicon Valley of India and computer graduates from Bangalore are much sought after in Oman.”
Shadi Yakub, a 23 year old Palestinian student in his third year of dentistry at Ambedkar Dental College, says of his course, “It is very practical and job oriented. I plan to do my Masters here”. However, he has had some nasty experiences in Bangalore, “I had delayed my visa renewal by a month since I had a prolonged illness. When I next went to the police commissioner's office I was arrested and sent to the Bangalore Central Jail. There I spent 2 horrible days with murderers, drug traffickers and gangsters. It was a real nightmare.“ He adds,” I was also made to pay Rs 5000/- as fine”.
Fitsum Getachew, a bright Ethiopian student of computer science student at Christ College has lived in India for the past six years. He has completed high school at the international school in New Delhi.
Why does he prefer Bangalore to Delhi? “Though I badly miss Delhi's Punjabi beauties, Bangalore's cool climate and Silicon Valley image is more tempting. And there are quite a few happening places in Bangalore too. I usually hangout at Guzzlers and Cyber Q.” On a more serious note, he adds, “The quality of education in India easily surpasses that of other third world countries.”
There appears to be a pattern to the selection of courses by students of particular nationalities. The Iranians, who form the bulk of foreign students in Bangalore, generally go in for dental and other paramedical courses. The Arabs generally prefer computer science. The Kenyans and Tanzanians, who constitute 90% of the African student community here, generally take up engineering.
Says Zaid, an Omani computer science student of BHS college, “I am from an upper middle class family and the fee structure works well with my budget.”
His cousin and roommate, Abdul Aziz adds, “I was all too familiar with the Indian way of life,” apparently referring to the 4.5 lakh Indians who make up 24% of Oman's population. No wonder he speaks reasonable Hindi. “I enjoy Hindi films and I am a die-hard Preity Zinta fan,” he adds.
Aamir Abbas, a second year BDS student of KIMS dental college says, “Admission to dentistry courses in Iran is very limited and expensive, but the scope, once you have a degree, is vast. Indian dental degrees hold considerable weight in Iran.” He has paid Rs 12 lakhs towards his fees.
Economic liberalisation of the nineties has created a mad rush for management courses among Indians and foreigners. Registration in the BBM and MBA courses all over the city stand testimony to this. Nada, a 19 year-old Omani, dreams of becoming a senior marketing executive. She is currently enrolled in the BBM course at Christ college and plans to do her MBA in Australia.
Mohammed, a 3rd year BBM student at AMC says, “like in India, a Yemeni management graduate earns much more than other graduates. The BBM course prescribed by the University is exhaustive and provides us with just the type of skills employers look for.” He plans to join the industry as a junior executive.
Sources say that the number of foreign students is steadily increasing year after year. A healthy sign indeed.
(Courtesy:The Bangalore Weekly) |
