'She power': Girls opt for studying abroad; US granted 82k visas in 2022

Hyderabad: More girls are opting for studying abroad in India.Nearly 82,500 F1 (student) visas were given by American Embassies in the last year, which is a record so far. And, most of them are girls only.

Speakers at 'Global Edufest 2023', which was organized by the Institute of Management and Foreign Studies (IMFS) and T-hub explained the phenomenon in detail. More than 60 delegates representing 100+ foreign universities from the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, etc., were a part of the day-long event, which was attended by hundreds of aspiring students.

Various stakeholders of the Study Abroad journey like Banks and NBFCs offering student loans, prep test agencies like ETS, PTE, insurance companies forex remitters, etc, were also present at the event. Prof Limbadri, Chairman, TSCHE has inaugurated the event. , Sri Mahankali Srinivasa Rao, CEO, T Hub, Prof Ghanta Chakrapani, former Chairman of TPSC, Sri Allam Narayana, Chairman of Press Academy, and V Pattabhi, Senior Advocate, High Court of Telangana were the guests of honor.

Ajaya Kumar Vemulapati, who is a partner of IMFS Hyderabad spoke on the occasion. "The number of girl students going abroad for higher education is increasing for the last six, seven years. The mindset of both parents and children is the major thing here. Most families after the 80s and '90s are having one or two children only. They don't mind whether their child is male or female. In the earlier generations, people used to think of just educating their girl child up to some graduation, and getting them married is the only task they have,” he said.

He said the time has changed and girls also are thinking of being well-educated, having a good job, and settling well. “Now, they are thinking a bit far more. They are seeking better opportunities, for which they are opting higher education abroad. Girls also say that they can look after their parents. So, for the last six, or seven years, the number of girls going abroad for higher studies is increasing.

Families where both of the parents are well educated also are not hesitating to send their only daughters abroad. Middle-class and higher-middle-class people are thinking in this line. Girl students, who get an 8-8.5 CGPA in their engineering graduation, and good scores in exams like GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS can easily get admission into a well-reputed university. In such cases, they can easily avail of the educational loan without collateral security too. That's why girls from both Telugu states are going abroad in good numbers. This is a good sign for our society too,” he said.

Phenomenal change after COVID

The number of Indians going abroad for higher education will depend on various parameters like who is the President, and what are their policies. When Donald Trump was the president, he used to say "America first".

So, most of the Indians were hesitant to go there. After that, the COVID outbreak stopped all. When Joe Biden became the US president in 2021, foreign students were back in America. The Chinese students' inflow to the US fell to lower levels because of the social taboo. This helped Indian students a lot. In the year 2022, Indians alone got 82,500 F1 visas to the US. And, most of them were naturally girls" explained Ajaya Kumar.