As foreign colleges move to online teaching modules, students feel shortchanged

Pune-based 21- year-old Aditi Jajodia was looking forward to pursuing a Master's programme in the United States for the fall semester, slated to begin in August. However, now the university has indicated that the programme could be initially offered online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"The whole point of enrolling for postgraduate programmes at a US university is the experience of being in the campus. While I have time till mid-May to decide on the enrollment, I am no longer keen to pursue an online programme," she said.

The upcoming fall semester in the United States is scheduled to begin from August 2020. Considering that average education costs for a year in the US is around Rs 30 lakh, both students and parents are wary of opting for an online programme.

While online programme modules are being offered for individuals who are unable to travel to the host country to enroll into the problems, students seem to be wary. On one hand while there is no clarity on when students will be allowed to get to the campus, on the other there is no clarity on how will the fee be refunded if classes are suspended, or are moved completely online.

Georgia Institute of Technology has said that international students who cannot obtain their visas and who are admitted into a Master's degree programme that has an online option may start their programme in the online option. The student can then choose to either continue in the online option or transfer to the Atlanta campus the following semester after receiving their student visa.

The biggest concern for students is that since foreign education involves taking large loans, some payment flexibility must be given.

Also Read: Live updates of the Coronavirus outbreak in India 

Varun Vohra, a design programme aspirant, immediately checked with two institutes where he has been shortlisted, one in Italy and the other in the United States about the refund policy. But both refused to offer any clarity.

"I was told that no decision has been taken yet on reducing the fee. The institutes said that the fees are used to support a lot of campus and student activities and hence there is little possibility of a decrease. But I need to apply for a Rs 25 lakh student loan and would need clarity on what are the chances of the course commencing and if a later decision could be taken on financial aid," he added.

Moneycontrol had reported that a revival of academic activities in campus involving physical lectures looks feasible only by January 2021. On one hand, while regions like Australia, New Zealand and Japan could see higher interest from 2021 onwards, consultants said that US and UK could fall out of favour for the time-being.

A few institutes have stated that they are on schedule as of now, but the evolving COVID-19 situation may force a lot of academic calendar changes and postponements.

Boston University said in a statement on its website that it is planning to resume its on-campus residential programme in the fall of 2020.

However, as per its recovery plan, the university said that in the unlikely event that public health officials deem it unsafe to open in the fall of 2020, then the contingency plan envisions the need to consider a later in-person return, perhaps in January 2021.

"It also accepts the possibility that international students are likely to face unique burdens, such as travel restrictions and interruptions in the processing of visas, and it suggests that some popular master’s programs may have to be offered remotely,” said the statement.

A few international institutes are also facilitating some flexibility for the students who are enrolling into the programmes.

Ravneet Pahwa, Deputy Vice President (Global Engagement) and CEO (South Asia) of Australia’s Deakin University told Moneycontrol that for new students, the institute has  started Deakin degrees online.

"While being in their home country itself, these students can start their education and enroll in a few subjects rather than wasting time. Their credits will be transferred to their on-campus education as soon as it opens up," she said.

Australia usually enrolls new students in July every year. But this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak, no new physical enrollments are being done. About 100,000 Indians study in Australia.

Pahwa added that Deakin is doing provisional enrollment of students where they can provide the final college marksheets before a cut-off date in August. If a student does not wish to continue or has seen a delay in result declaration, there is also a provision for 100 percent refund of the fee paid for the subjects studied online.

Currently, almost 1 million Indian students are estimated to be studying across universities in US, UK, Europe, Australia and parts of South-East Asia. This is across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.