Study-Abroad Aspirants Ready to Choose Hybrid Program to Save Money after pandemic: Survey

The survey found that 66.8 percent of students admitted that the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their study-abroad plan.

The survey, which included over 4,000 foreign education aspirants as respondents, found that 66.8 per cent of students admitted that the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their study-abroad plan.

According to the survey conducted by tech-enabled overseas education platform, The WorldGrad, “72 per cent students have opted for hybrid-mode (part online-part offline degree) to reduce the cost of education without compromising on quality of education. This ratio is a massive increase from 55 per cent a few months ago.

It said, “66.8 per cent of the students have accepted the fact that the ongoing pandemic wave has affected their study-abroad plan. In many cases, parents were uncomfortable with their children going abroad for security reasons.

Not surprisingly, handling of COVID-19 by destination countries was the third most important criterion when choosing a country to study. The US emerged as the most preferred overseas education destination among Indian students (41 per cent), followed by Canada (21 per cent), Australia (18 per cent) and the UK (16 per cent).

This indicates a change in trend in favor of two countries, the United States and Australia, which both fell out of favor with international students during the pandemic, the survey said.

It was also discovered that at least 58 percent of the students had limited understanding of visa guidelines related to overseas study. This disparity is caused by the pandemic, which has prompted countries to change their policies frequently.