The pandemic played a pivotal role in the education sector where ‘Overseas Education’ was largely impacted. From parents being apprehensive about sending their children abroad for major safety concerns post-pandemic to students choosing to save their parents money while adopting a hybrid model of studying. Yes, the Study Abroad Trends of 2022 have changed and here’s how it looks like now –
Study Abroad Trends of 2022
1. Application Boom in Major Countries
Since the time the UK opened its new graduate route which allows Indian and other international students to stay back or work after their degree for 2-3 years depending on the nature of their degree, it has given a tremendous boost in the number of students applying to UK universities. Not only that, the UK has shown flexibility and given the students an option to start online and travel later.
Similarly, Canadian applications grew by over 200% and Canadian visa approval rates rose by 15%
Now that Australia has opened its borders again for international students after a long time, applicants from India and other nations will start applying as they are loosening their strict measures.
A good number of students are gearing up to study abroad even to destinations they never considered during pre-covid times.
2. Standardized Tests, Not So Standard for Universities
Test waivers? A huge relief for many. While GMAT/GRE was a requirement for any top business school to assess a candidate’s suitability for a Master’s degree based on his/her verbal, quantitative and analytical skills. A huge number of universities decided to take some weight off the students’ shoulders and waived the requirement to submit their GMAT/GRE scores for almost all master’s courses but in a large pool of applications in order to stand one’s need to showcase an excellent profile and write winning essays. Some universities in the US also decided to give a test waiver for TOEFL.
While that’s some good news, we now have the Digital SAT which will be 2 hours long instead of 3 hours
3. Popular Degrees
While we all know why we want to study a management degree and the importance of it, nothing beats the change in the shift of students’ choice to a degree in healthcare and sciences, and IT especially post-covid. When we mention healthcare and sciences we generally think of MBBS, right? But here the youths, who saw suffering and the chaos during the pandemic, got themselves more interested in the healthcare sector and realized the importance of biomedical science and research.
Areas like cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence were in high demand and the job landscape has changed tremendously for these careers. There is an increased demand for skilled professionals in AI, Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing, Cloud Computing, etc.
4. Hybrid Learning – A New Way of Learning
While all students enjoyed their offline classes, meeting friends in person, getting practical hands-on experience at school, university or at their internship, we had to shift to the virtual world which did not take much time but they ultimately did it. Now as things are easing, the universities are also providing a hybrid model of learning where students who wish to come back on campus can do so and well nothing beats that!
5. Cultural Diversity
Now that the universities are more open to the hybrid model of learning and more accessible, one thing that still remains in focus is cultural diversity. The various stages of cultural shock that one encounters in their study abroad journey are surely not an easy process but an enriching one. The kind of environment that one lives in, shapes them. Diversity in a university brings about more opportunities for students to gain exposure to a diverse culture.
6. Scholarship Trends
Bagging a scholarship has always been an utmost priority for students looking to study abroad as it helps lower the financial burden for most families. Getting into a top-ranked university is definitely a struggle one has to go through but getting a scholarship in that university is definitely icing on the cake. Some of the prestigious scholarships that have been rolled out this year are attracting a lot of students to apply internationally. For example –
- Women in STEM Scholarships – The University of Manchester is offering 5 fully-funded scholarships for female students from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka who are completing courses in STEM.
- UCL Global Scholarships – The UCL Global Scholarships programme supports international students from lower-income backgrounds. It offers both Undergraduate and Master’s scholarships. These scholarships are open to all programs to encourage all students from low-income backgrounds to pursue higher education at UCL.
- Barji and Gulab Scholarship for Women in Computer Science – There is only 1 scholarship that will be awarded to a full-time undergraduate student, living in India entering into a Computer Science program.
- International Student Award – UNSW Sydney is supporting ambitious students from India. It is available for undergraduate, postgraduate and UNSW Global diploma programs.
7. Relaxation on Visa Norms
Considering the norms and protocols everyone has to follow, a few countries made several adjustments to their visa requirements, interview and paperwork. The UK introduced post-study work visas where students can stay back for 2 years to look for jobs. The US has eliminated in-person interview requirements for certain categories of work visas like H1B, L1 and O1.
Australia and other countries interviewed students on-call rather than having an in-person interview.
Conclusion
The last two years haven’t been easy for anybody and we understand that. Every sector has been affected drastically but we have grown out of it so don’t you feel like we could make 2022 our year? The year of our choices, our year to fulfill dreams and our year to GO OUT IN THE WORLD and make things happen!
Where there’s a will, there’s a way and we love how resilient everyone has been. The overseas education landscape will evolve and students will remain abreast. We at Mindler care about our students and make it our endeavor to shape their profile, making it an interesting journey to their dream study abroad college.
Reach out to our expert study abroad mentors at Mindler for Career Counselling, and let us hand-hold you towards your dream college!
