From global travel restrictions and consulate closures to online learning and Zoom fatigue, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed diverse challenges to Indian students attempting to study abroad.  In the face of adversity, however, they have shown a steadfast commitment to international education.  Just 5% of Indian students admitted to U.K. universities in fall 2020 deferred their study plans; and, between September 2020 and January 2021, 79% more Indian students applied for and received F-1 visas to study in the U.S. than did during the same period one year prior.

Shiksha Study Abroad is one of the organisations with which INTO partners that has unwaveringly supported Indian students in their pursuit of education abroad since the onset of the pandemic.  We caught up with Nandita Bandopadhyay, senior vice president, international sales and client success, for Shiksha.com, to discuss Shiksha’s hybrid model of student service as well as resilience and rebounding interest among Indian study abroad aspirants as vaccines are administered and mobility resumes.

Continue reading “Light at the end of the tunnel? Perspectives on resilience and recovery in India from Shiksha Study Abroad” →

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) recently published its 2020 SEVIS by the Numbers report outlining Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) data on F-1 students from calendar year 2020.  The report provides a comprehensive picture of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on international student enrollment at American institutions last year, revealing that the number of international students in the U.S. decreased by 17.86% and the number of new international student enrollments decreased by 72%.

COVID-19 did not take an equal toll on international enrollment at different levels of study.  Associate degree and intensive English programs saw more significant losses than did programs at other levels of study in 2020—especially doctoral programs, which made it through the year relatively unscathed.  This marks a continuation of pre-pandemic trends up until 2019/20, and it threatens to erase early signs of recovery for associate degree and intensive English programs which emerged just before the pandemic began.

Continue reading “All things not equal: SEVIS data show COVID-19 took disproportionate toll on language programs in U.S.” →