Rajika Bhandari is a New York-based international higher education expert and consultant with a career that spans over 25 years. She has held senior leadership roles in the private, academic, and non-profit sectors in education. Author of a new book, America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility, in which she explores challenges faced by international students through her personal journey. Bhandari spoke to Ishani Duttagupta about the trends in movement of Indian students to the US in the coming months.
The Open Doors report, which tracks the number of international students in America, shows a substantial fall in the number of Indians enrolled in the US; do you think that the pandemic is the only reason for this?
The pandemic is certainly not the only reason and I see it as the culmination of an almost perfect storm for the US institutions. The reality is that the number of international students—including Indian students—going to the US had already been declining for a few years largely due to regressive immigration policies and a sense amongst future students that they were not as welcome as before. At the same time, other countries had been ramping up their efforts to attract Indian students. So, as one can imagine, the pandemic only worsened this situation, adding to the decline that was already underway. These are the intersecting trends that I have also explored in my book.
Read More at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/interest-in-us-institutions-resurging-among-indian-students-as-climate-feels-friendlier-now/articleshow/88323610.cms
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