Study Abroad News & Alerts

Morocco is offering 10 undergraduate scholarships to Indian students who are interested in pursuing a degree from the higher education institutes in the country. The scholarship will be given to students who want to study in the field of medical, accounting studies, engineering, agriculture, architecture, and many more. The deadline for the same is 15th May, 2024. Students must understand that French is the main source of communication in the majority of Moroccan institutes. Therefore, it is important for all candidates to undertake tests in French to prove their language proficiency. It is only after the proficiency of a candidate has been analysed that they will get the field of the study. The field of the study given to international students is going to be non-negotiable

Seven Indian origin students have been able to earn the prestigious Knights Hennessy Scholarship. The selected students include Kritika Singh, Krishna Pathak, Ank Aggarwal, Wasan Kumar, Isha Sanghvi, Aneesh Pappu, and Rahul Penumaka. Every year 90 scholars are chosen under this scholarship programme. The disciplines from which the students are chosen range from science, management, technology and law. Most of the students are from masters degree and are pursuing their PhD, masters or even MBA. The 90 students selected this year are from 30 different countries. 47% of the selected students are not even citizens of the US. 

The NTA has successfully conducted the CUET UG undergraduate exam across the country other than the 258 centres in Delhi due to certain discrepancies. The first day of the exam was held for biology, chemistry, and the general test at around 2175 centres in the country. The overall attendance in the country for the first day of exam was 75%. This is quite an achievement for NTA since conducting an exam of this big capacity seamlessly across different centres is certainly not an easy task. However, due to reasons still undisclosed, the examination for the students of Delhi centres has been postponed. This test is not going to be held on 29th May. As per the chairman of UGC, there were some logistical issues that they couldn't control and thus the examination had to be cancelled. All the shifts spanning from 15th May to 18th May will be conducted in pen and paper mode. The examinations scheduled between 21st May to 24th May will be conducted in CBT mode.

Many IITs offer unconventional courses to students that can be pursued in hybrid, attending or non-attending mode. These courses are a digression from the conventional bachelors in technology courses in specialisations like computer science and electronic engineering. One such course that is offered by one of the top institutes in the country is ceramics engineering. This course is offered by IIT BHU in the form of an integrated dual degree. Students have to go through a five year BTech + MTech course that is specialised in ceramic engineering. This course is specially designed to provide students with the knowledge of all the fundamental techniques and skills that are required in the area of ceramic industry that includes whitewares, cement, furnace technology, glass and pottery. Students can get into this course through the JEE exam.

The government of Japan is offering undergraduate scholarships to Indian students who want to study in Japan. The MEXT scholarship, which is a collaboration between the government of Japan and the Ministry of education, culture and sports of India, is given to selected students every year. These undergraduate scholarships are given to students getting into technological courses or some specialised training courses. Interested students can send their applications to the Japanese Embassy and its consulates in India. The scholarship is also open for post graduate and research programmes. It is compulsory for all students to have scored at least 70% marks in their previous degree. Selected students will be getting a monthly allowance of almost INR 79,000.

CUET UG which was scheduled on 15th May has been postponed by UGC. Students who went to their  respective examination centres were sent back abruptly without even letting them inside the examination centres. UGC chairman, Mr Jagdish Kumar has said that the examination has been cancelled because of some logistics related problem that is beyond the control of NTA. Due to the sudden dispersal and cancellation of exams, students have shown their resentment towards the system and blamed NTA for not being responsible enough. As of now these exams have been rescheduled on 29th May, 2024. However, the exam was conducted seamlessly and other centres around NCR, such as Noida, Gurugram, and Faridabad.

CBSE has officially released the results for class 10th and 12th and students can check it from the official website of CBSE. CBSE class 10th board exams were conducted from 15th February to 13th March around the country and across 26 other countries as well. This year around 1.32,00,00 students will have to appear for a compartment exam. The result of Kendriya Vidyalayas has surpassed everyone's expectations with a passing percent of 99.01%. Sabyasachi Laskar from Kolkata has managed to score a perfect 500/500 score in class 10th exams. City wise Thiruvananthapuram records the highest passing percentage in the country with a total of 99.91 students passing the class 10th exams.

The British government has been imposing perpetual restrictions on international students for the past two years. This includes increasing the minimum savings, discontinuing dependent visas, and increasing visa refusal rates. Now reports are suggesting that the next move of the British government will be to discontinue the after study work visa that is given to international students after completing their education. Already the number of students paying deposits to the UK universities for studying postgraduate courses has decreased by 63%. Several reports suggest that if the UK government decides to discontinue the after study work visa, there are high chances that most students will stop playing for the universities in the UK.

Harper Adams University has awarded over £600,000 in scholarships. Additionally, the university has also announced a lot of new scholarships that will be given to students from this academic year. The dean of the university has said that the generous grant was possible because of a lot of donors. Out of the 178 students who had been selected for the scholarship, 148 have been given awards over £600,000. This achievement is unlike anything any other university has done before. Other than this, the university has also announced 12 new scholarships. After dispersing the scholarships, the university received an overwhelming amount of applications from international students around the world.

As per a report published by one of the leading newspapers in the UK, the post study visa route in the UK is dominated by Indian students. Between 2021 to 2023, more than 82,000 post study visas have been granted to Indian students. This accounts for 42% of the total oh study visas granted to international students. Post study visa is one of the major reasons why a lot of international students especially Indian students pursue higher education from the UK. Recently, there have been reports that the government will impose certain restrictions on the post-study visa route. However, if this happens then Indian students will be severely impacted. The UK has already imposed a lot of restrictions to crack down the problem of over immigration. It is being expected that the next step is going to be related to the post study visa route. 

The Australian government is constantly working on its immigration policy to devise better policies. Now it has been announced that there will be significant changes in the temporary graduate visa policy of Australia that will be implemented from 1st July, 2024 onwards. From now onwards, if a candidate wants to apply for a graduate visa or a post study work stream, they have to be under the age of 35. As per reports, most of the Indian students apply for a post-study work stream or below the age of 35 only. The post study work stream will allow the students to stay in the country for up to 3 years. The condition is that the student must have passed their degree in STEM in first grade.

The government of Maharashtra has introduced a five-year integrated course in both hotel management and planning. Students will be able to get admission into this program through the common entrance test conducted by the government of Maharashtra. These examinations are scheduled to be conducted on 24th May and 25th May. Both the tests are going to be conducted in CBT mode. For syllabus related information, students can check the official website of Maharashtra CET. Students appearing for Masters in planning course must have studied physics, chemistry and mathematics in class 11th and 12th.

The CBSE has officially declared the result for class 10th and 12th on May 13. Students can check the official website of CBSE to check their results and they can also be checked through Digilocker. The class 10th examination was conducted from 15th February to 13th March. Around 39,00,00 students appeared for the class 10th exams. This year 1,32,337 students have been placed under the compartment category and will have to reappear for one or the other exam. 94.75% of the total girl students who appeared for the exam have passed class 10th board exams. 92.71% of the boys who registered for the exam have been able to clear the class 10th board exams. For class 12th, 87.98% of the total students who registered for the exam have been able to clear all subjects. Just like previous year, CBSE has not released any list of toppers this year.

IIT Madras is inviting candidates to apply for its BS in electronic systems programme. This is going to be a four year long program that will give candidates the opportunity to exit any time that they want to. students can get a foundation level certificate, a diploma or a full-fledged degree depending upon when they exit. The applications for the same will remain open till 26th May, 2024. More than 1000 students from around the world are studying this programme from the institute. Students will get to know the theory of the curriculum through online classes and hands-on laboratory experience through in person laboratory classes. Students will also have to give in person examinations.

After the recent notice by UGC to consider NET as the sole exam for giving admission and PhD programmes, many universities have decided to discontinue their respective entrances for PhD. The Banaras Hindu University will no longer conduct its RET which is an entrance exam meant for giving admission to students and PhD programmes. The university will solely give admission to students on the basis of their score in NET. The university will give 70% weightage to the scores of the insurance exam and 30% weightage to the interview given by the student. The admission will be given on the total marks scored by the student in both the entrance exam and the interview.

IIT Delhi has launched three new emasters courses in applied mathematics, electrical vehicle systems, robotics, and data science. These programmes will range from a span of 2 academic years to 3 academic years. It is compulsory for all applicants to have a working experience of at least two years and a bachelor's degree in the field of technology or science. Also it is compulsory to have scored at least 55% in one's graduation. Students do not need GADE scores to get admission into the programme. Admission will be given on the basis of the overall profile of the eligible candidates and will also depend on the level of competition. Students whose applications have been shortlisted will be called for an interview round before being selected finally. 

The correction window for NEET PG has opened and will remain open till 16th May, 2024. All the candidates who have registered for the exam can make any necessary changes in their application if they want to. A lot of time students fill wrong details by mistake and to correct these details, NTA opens the correction window for a brief amount of time every year. The admit cards for the exam are likely to be released on 18th June, 2024. 

The exam is going to be conducted on 23rd June, 2024. It is important to note that after the correction window is over, no students will be able to make any changes in their application form. So students must timely make the needed changes before the correction window closes. For more updates, students can keep checking the official website of NEET PG.

The Australian government has recently made a lot of changes in its immigration policies. This has been done to reduce the number of international students coming to the country by half in the coming year. The minimum English level requirement as well as the savings required by a student have been increased. students are no longer allowed to pursue two courses at a time. A lot of student visa applications are getting rejected for new specific reasons. As a result, students from India are considering options like Germany and Dubai as an alternative for Australia. 

Other countries like Italy, Ireland, and New Zealand are also being considered by Indian students. These countries right now have a more streamlined visa process and a transparent immigration system. These new changes introduced by the Australian government are causing a lot of disruption for international students. They have to wait for a very long period of time before eventually getting rejected.

IIT Madras and the University of Birmingham have collaborated to launch a joint masters programme. The masters program will be a specialisation in sustainable energy systems. The institution has also officially started the registration for the same course. Previously the two institutions had also released a joint masters program in data science and artificial intelligence. This year another initiative has been taken to provide a course in the field of sustainability. The course will teach students to develop sustainable energy systems that will come in handy for the future. The programme will cover different disciplines like technology, development, the concept of sustainability, environment, socio-economic factors and many more. This is a flexible program and will allow students to pursue it either at IIT Madras or at University of Birmingham.

Two universities from Texas, including Rice University and Texas University at Austin have been included in the Forbes magazine as the top universities in the United States of America, having similar educational facilities to that of Ivy League institutes. Forbes magazine has its own set of parameters on the basis of which it made the assessment and came to the conclusion. Other universities that have been included in the list are John Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Virginia, and University of Michigan. Some of the parametres that have been taken into consideration include the student satisfaction rate, employment rate, graduation rate, and infrastructure.