Engineering graduates keeping all job options open

Updated on: Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Chennai: After bagging lucrative jobs in the IT and software fields just after stepping out of college, during the boom years, many students especially engineering graduates are now exploring other options including higher studies abroad this year.

While the US economy is in the midst of a recession that hasn't really deterred the spirits of students, as the programmes in many universities in the country are rated high. "Many graduates are now looking from a long-term angle. They are exploring subjects including specialised disciplines that meet their career options," contends C Vijayalakshmi of United States-India Educational Foundation (USEFI).

Mala Srinivasan, director (Delhi operation), Indo American Professional Education Network (IAPEN), which provides coaching for students who want to go abroad says there is a growth in new emerging fields for study after the meltdown. Thus, students are exploring post-graduate options in emerging fields such as biotechnology, bioinfomatics and cloud computing to name a few.

Around 50,000 students from India appear for the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) every year. This exam is a pre-requisite for gaining admission into post graduate engineering programmes in the US.

"Many US universities continue to offer excellent masters and doctoral programmes and that is one main draw that lures students abroad," says Anand Kannan, managing director, GreEdge.com that provides online coaching to crack the exam.

As per Open Doors 2008, published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) states that total foreign enrolment increased by 7 per cent to touch a record high of 6,23,805 in 2007-08. Enrolments from India were up by 13 per cent in 2007-08 to 94,563 students. Also, Asia remains the region sending most students to the United States, with a 10 per cent increase this year.

While many US universities have seen a slump in their value of endowments in wake of the slowdown, grants from corporations for scholarship, research and equipment, is also expected to see a dip this year on account of the slowdown. This in turn would mean fewer scholarships and aid this year.

As per the Open Doors report, nearly 62 per cent of all international students receive majority of their funds from family and personal loans. This segment ends up contributing over $15.5 billion to the US economy through tuition and other living expenses.

Engineering graduates keeping all job options open

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