Whether to study abroad or pursue higher education in India is a common dilemma among ambitious teenagers or youngsters. Needless to say, this could be the make or break decision when it comes to excelling in your career goals. Having said that, it is a hard decision to make. The question is, what do you base this choice on?
The world has transformed in unimaginable ways over the past decade. It is astounding to see self-driven cars take the roads, drones delivering goods and ChatGPT give all answers. However, another sphere in which the world has progressed enormously is how everything has become enormously competitive.
The competition is intense regardless of whether you aspire to build a career in logistics management or aeronautical engineering. Hence, career success dynamics are no longer as simple as they were half a decade ago. Now, it is a well-known fact that education in India does not exactly produce the skills that industries require. Having said that, the benefits of studying abroad are indeed real!
Career Success: Sustenance Versus Excelling
Here, I must modestly clarify that I am not in any way overselling the study abroad construct over domestic education. I will only speak from the virtue of facts, my knowledge of overseas education and credible information on higher education.
So, factually speaking, the Indian education system is still not at par with the best education systems in the world. Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in India do not produce the knowledge and skills required to excel in a practical world. Of course, I don’t include the IITs and IIMs in this category because these institutions do back you for career achievements.
But beyond these institutions, there is little purchase across industries and even if students get jobs, remunerations are inferior. To cite an example, the average package of an engineer in India is INR 600,000 per annum (Glassdoor). I am sure the majority of them work at wages much less than the average. If your career goal is sustenance, this is good enough!
But as an ambitious individual wanting to excel, would you call it a successful career then? Would a salary of INR 400,000 to 600,000 per annum validate your career aspirations? Is there enough room for growth amid an abundance of degree holders and saturated industries across India?
As much as we love our country, the answer unfortunately is no! In some way or the other, domestic higher education programs curtail career excellence. Either salaries would not match expectations or growth would seem stagnant after a point in time.
Remember, there’s a difference between sustaining your career and standing out in your career. Worthwhile domestic study programs can for sure help in sustenance or survival. However, if your ambition is to excel and outshine in your career, study abroad programs are a better bet. Going forward, let us decode how!
Let’s try to understand how study abroad programs facilitate greater career success. Every assertion to back this argument is logical, based on credible information and consistent with changing educational trends.
Study Abroad Programs & Greater Career Success
Study Abroad Programs Are High on Experiential Learning
Let’s get one thing straight, having a degree no longer guarantees career success. There are thousands of peers graduating with the same degree each year. Where is the differentiation? Having said that, career success today relies on experiential learning, practical knowledge and industrial exposure.
While students study in Germany, the US, the UK or Australia, curriculums are extensively and thoughtfully designed. To elaborate, curriculums are crafted with the right balance of theoretical and practical knowledge. Besides, there’s enough room for experiential learning and on-site experiences through co-ops et cetera.
It is noteworthy that the majority of employers look at students’ co-op experiences and on-site experiences as a competitive advantage. On-site experiential learning indicates that the student is already well-versed with the industry and carries professional experience.
Besides, there are some meticulous study abroad programs wherein one complete academic year is all about internships and work experience. Your institution will help you find the right internship opportunity for you. So, not only do you gain experiential learning of the highest order but also earn well while you study.
Employability Prospects in India Are Much Higher After Overseas Education
Imagine yourself in the capacity of a recruiter hiring for a management consultant. Let’s say you have 25 good candidates for the role. One of the applicants has an MBA from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania!
Now, wouldn’t you have the tendency to overshadow the other 24 candidates all at once? You would rather focus on this one profile because of the brand value Wharton Business School carries. That is what most employers and recruiters would do!
When employers see that an individual has pursued education overseas, the interest would be much higher. They know that this individual has pursued education in a progressive and competitive environment.
Further, they realize that an overseas graduate will be better equipped with the right skills. Besides, the individual will have a greater ability to thrive under pressure and will be an enormous value addition.
So, if you plan to come back to India after pursuing education abroad, that is how you would be looked at by most employers. They will associate enormous brand value to your name and you will have a clear edge over others.
The basic mindset is that every employer knows that overseas education offers extensive room for holistic development. To substantiate, surveys indicate that around 80 percent of employers welcome individuals with international exposure. They associate great value with international education and study abroad programs.
Therefore, international education can be one of your best investments among ways to secure a job that matches your ambition.
Study Abroad Experiences Groom You For Global Skills
The world of recruitment is transforming swiftly and you must keep pace with the changing trends. With degrees taking a backseat, skill-based hiring is on the rise. To elaborate, recruiters are now more interested in the skills that an individual brings to the table.
Skill based hiring is focused on finding the right fit for the right role subject to skills and not the academic background. This is a paradigm shift and you must not take it lightly by any means! As per Forbes, around 80 percent of employers are now relying on skill based hiring.
This is exactly where study abroad programs become all the more important for career success. In a world where the preference for global skills is accelerating, domestic education is not addressing the skill gap effectively.
On the contrary, overseas education curriculums focus a lot on skill building and aligning education to industrial acceptance. If you pursue education from let’s say the University of Toronto, LSE, UCLA and so on, skill development will be intrinsic to it.
The central argument is, overseas education gives you the best chance to meet the exponentially rising demand for global skills. Overseas education grooms you far more effectively to be job ready than domestic education in India.
Of course, here I don’t refer to overseas education in any and every country. I am talking about some of the best and most progressive education systems in the world. These nations include the US, the UK, Germany, Australia and so on. Make sure you choose the right study abroad destination.
Also, my reference for overseas education is more towards the top-ranked universities across the globe. It only makes sense to take the hassle of international education if you are going to a credible and reputed institution.
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The Return on Investment Is Much Higher
Let’s say your ultimate goal is to eventually have your own AI Startup after working for a few years in the field of AI. Now let’s compare how much will you earn working as a computer science engineer in the US and India for two years.
So, let’s first consider the average salary of an engineer in India i.e. INR 600,000 per annum. Now, let’s say you end up bagging a package of INR 200,000 per annum above the average i.e. INR 800,000. So, over two years, you earn INR 16,00,000.
Now, let us compare it with the earning prospects in the US. As per Indeed, the average salary of an engineer is USD 104,211. As per current conversion rates, it comes out to be INR 90,27,404 per annum. Even if you are to earn less than the average, you would still be earning INR 60,00,000 to INR 70,00,000 per year in the US.
So, in two years of your work in the US after completing your degree, in terms of INR, you would have somewhere around INR 40,00,000 to INR 50,00,000 to invest in your startup. Look at the difference! Look at the kind of return on investment overseas education gives you.
It’s not just an ROI in terms of career success but also in terms of earnings. The difference is massive. This difference can take your career to places!
Studying Abroad Enhances Your Overall Personality
There’s much more value overseas education adds to your career than knowledge and skills. The overseas education experience empowers you to discover the best version of yourself quite early.
Let me explain this by drawing a contrast between staying in India for higher education and moving overseas. When you stay in India for your higher education, you rather stay in a protected environment. You don’t really have to fend for yourself unless you complete your graduation and post graduation to start working.
There’s no real pressure to fund your education and manage everything on your own. Having said that, in this scenario, you evolve at a rather slow pace. Hence, the confidence to deal with the real challenges of the world starts building much later to your disadvantage.
On the contrary, when you move abroad in your teenage years and start that journey of managing everything by yourself, empowerment hits you differently. You start facing real challenges, learn financial management much earlier and attain independence much earlier.
This is something that directly or indirectly gives you an edge over others. Besides, as an international student, you also work part-time which adds to your confidence and gives you early exposure to professionalism.
All this will beautifully add up to making you more independent, stronger, resilient and flamboyant. This gives you a clear edge over anyone who started this journey after graduation from a rather overprotective environment.
Find the Right Study Abroad Program For You Now
To conclude, study abroad programs and the overall experience of overseas education empower your career in multifarious ways. Yes, initially, it may seem a huge investment to make but the returns on investment are surely promising, However, the return on investment is wholly subject to the choice of course, institution and destination. To help you take the right call on that, we are always there to help you!
