Racism Downunder
Have you seen the picture of this young man before? Probably yes ... because our friends in the media relentlessly flashed the photo of this poor man's battered face for a few days till it was stale news.
Does it evoke any feelings, questions or thoughts in you? If not in anyone else, it surely has evoked a thought in me. I have one simple question for all my respected readers - is it worth young lives to move to a foreign country for higher studies?
As I type in this post, I see on the TV that there's yet another case of attack on an Indian management student. I learn from the news channel that in the last one month, there have now been ten attacks on Indian students in Australia. Today - 5th of June - the Australian authorities, it seems, have accepted that there are racial motives behind these attacks. This prompted me to do a quick search why 90,000 students from India flock to Australian shores every year for higher education and on the quality of Australian education system compared to other countries like United States, United Kingdom, France and Singapore.
I came across
this post in a blog:
- As reported in the Sun today, a study by demographer Bob Birrell of Monash University, “more than one-third of foreign students graduating from Australian universities, mainly Asians, have such poor English skills they should never have been admitted”.
- "Overall, 34% of the graduating foreign students offered permanent residence visas last year did not have competent English... [Bob Birell] said he believed the study to be representative of all foreign students, partly because Asia was a major source of fee-paying overseas students for Australian universities. “It does raise questions about university standards.
After some more search I stumbled across a probably not-so-surprising revelation that Australia is not on the top of the list of destinations for higher studies among aspiring students. It seems that those who fail to get admitted or cannot afford education in those countries turn to Australia. I am not quite certain of the veracity of this information.
But the above notwithstanding, do you agree to the fact that the Indian education system is so lacking that one needs to move to a foreign country? Are our management schools, engineering and medical colleges and all other educational institutions so worthless that one has to set sail to foreign lands for acquiring a higher degree?
Everyday I come across the profiles of so many people who have completed their education in India - and they are successful; success as measured by money, position, power and status. Why did they not choose to go outside the country? I know some of you would argue that there is a whole lot of successful people who have acquired their degrees from abroad - but does that demean the quality of education in India?
I don't agree! What I can agree to is that there is a serious shortage of specialized degrees in India. Lets say, if you want to get a advanced degree in International Marketing, you probably wouldn't find an Indian institute offering such a course. But even that is catching up now. And more importantly, these are things that you learn on the job rather than from a text book environment.
On a personal front, I have had the opportunity to work for durations ranging from a few weeks to a few months in at least six countries across the world, India included. From the experience I have had in all of those countries (I will name the continents and not the countries - North America, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and the sub-continent) I swear that I would be more than happy to remain rooted to my country.
What do you have to say?
