I'm a 16-year-old, this is what I'm afraid about studying abroad for my generation
Picture for representative purpose.
Being a 16-year-old residing in Delhi with the aim of acquiring a foreign education, just a few months ago, I stumbled upon a closed group on Facebook. A group which, within a few hours, grasped every ounce of my attention. Enthralled by discussions over essays, standardised testing and portfolios, I soon found myself absorbed in a web of rankings and applications. This group had a member list going into the thousands. And its name? Quite appropriately, “The Great Indian Dream”.
Astoundingly competitive entrance exams and fierce admissions cutoffs, coupled with a soaring upper middle-class, has transformed the urban Indian dream. Ambitious, well-informed parents seek to give their children education in the world’s most prestigious institutions. Aided by a growing dissatisfaction with the dismal state of Indian higher education, over the past five years alone, the number of Indian nationals receiving an education overseas has risen by more than 50 per cent. My brother is one of more than 181,872 Indians acquiring the benefits of a flexible education system, and living this dream.
However, has the globally changing political climate, the election of Donald Trump (as US President) and the popular rejection of open borders shattered this dream? Let's take a look:
United Kingdom
Five days ago, I ran into one of my brother’s school friends, an incredibly sharp guy, here in Delhi. Having recently graduated with a business administration degree from one of Britain’s top colleges (University College London), I naturally expected him to be flourishing. Rather, in a low voice, he told me that he was...unemployed.
With a sense of helplessness laying heavy on his chest, he reluctantly informed me that visa reform in the country no longer permits international students to take up residence upon graduation, unless they somehow already find a job. Rather, he was expected to immediately leave the country to return to India, where his three years of endless persistence and foreign degree have been dismissed by domestic employers.
That was just one example. But as a result of such instances, the past year alone has exhibited a near 10 per cent fall in the number of Indian students in the UK.
To make matters far worse, British Prime Minister Theresa May has now declared that international students studying across 130 universities in the United Kingdom will now be treated and branded as "migrants". The Tory manifesto released in May this year promises to further “toughen the visa requirements for students”. The intention is clear, the message understood. We are not welcome.
USA
On January 24, a Congresswoman from California introduced a bill — the High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 — to begin the “overhaul of a broken” visa system. I wasn't surprised by the bill, or the fact that it sent shockwaves through the Silicon Valley, causing stocks to plunge. What surprised me was that Zoe Lofgren, the representative who introduced the legislation, wasn't a conservative Republican from the Trump administration. Rather, she was a Democrat. One that understood the pulse of the nation.
With more than 92,597 students, the Indian diaspora forms the second largest chunk of international students residing in American universities, beaten only by China. The majority of these students, upon graduating, require the H-1B to seek employment and residence. The H-1B was first launched in 1990 as a programme to identify and retain “highly qualified” individuals in “speciality occupations” as a means to contribute to American innovation. Since then, it has evolved to become a tool for outsourcing blue-collared manpower. Aided by post-truth politics, the H-1B has unfortunately become the popular symbol for the "economic repression" of the American proletariat.
As a result, with an explicitly conservative president in office, and the Republicans dominating both chambers of Congress, there is a strong push to reform H-1B to make firms “Buy American, Hire American”.
This doesn't bode well. To my surprise, for those graduating in the US, employment prospects are already bleak. The large applicant pool of over 230,000 means that, even for a STEM applicant, under current laws, there is a one-third chance of not getting a visa at all.
For someone like me who is looking to go into the realm of political science or economic theory, the odds aren't just worse. They're incredibly bleak. Proposals to double the minimum wage to an astounding $132,000, as well as disregard “computer programmers” as speciality occupations mean that American firms will be forced to shift towards the domestic labour market.
If I were to head abroad, like a third of other Indian students, I would take on debt, that too by offering some collateral. This debt is only payable on an income in dollars. With dark clouds now looming over job prospects, owing more than a crore rupees at the age of 21 isn’t just foolish. It’s catastrophic.
To make matters worse, the growing prominence of the Alt-Right, and the string of racially driven attacks on those of Indian ethnicity has begun to scare away prospective students. Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer killed in a hate crime on February 22. Harnish Patel, an Indian store owner shot dead outside his own home in March. On May 20, an Indian-origin Cornell student’s lifeless corpse was found near Ithaca Falls. Headlines such as these which echo of hate and xenophobia are, frankly, terrifying.
It’s hard not to question as to whether an education overseas is worth it, if I’ll find myself looking over my shoulder, feeling alienated on every street corner and bus.
The United States of America will remain the largest hub of foreign education for Indian-origin people, but for how long?
Dream shattered?
As I neared the end of this piece, I decided to head back to the Facebook group for some inspiration. Peeking out of the endless tirade of comments about campuses, placements and profiles were some questions I hadn’t seen before. Questions about the globally changing political climate, the election of Donald Trump, and the popular rejection of open borders.
Questions which revealed that not just me, but a whole sea of other students were beginning to notice the cracks in our great Indian dream.