Engineering in India or Abroad? for NRIs
NRI students and parents often gets confused in making a decision in between selecting Indian Colleges under NRI Quota (Gulf Quota) or the US or European Universities for Engineering. Traditionally many Indian NRI students from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain move to Indian engineering colleges for obvious reasons.
We will discuss about this in detail below and remaining NRI students would go to other universities abroad. If you are looking for this information, you are just at the right page.
It’s a matter of curiosity and concern for all NRIs students and parents where should they pursue Bachelor’s degree from? Indian Universities or American Universities
Note: According to the latest update from DASA, from 2021 onwards, JEE Scores will be made mandatory for NRI/PIO/OCI Students to be eligible for DASA & CIWG Schemes. Hence, 2020 will be the last year when SAT 2 scores will be considered for DASA/CIWG Scheme.
So we will walk you through some pros and cons of both the Indian Universities and American Universities. Let us elucidate every aspect in detail.
Case 1 – Indian NRI students (Middle East) moving for Indian Colleges
Pros:
1. NRI Quota: Being NRI student you are entitled to get reservation in premium engineering colleges in India through Gulf Quota (For NRIs in Middle East). This Gulf Quota is popularly know as CIWG / DASA Scheme. Please note that this quota is only valid for NITs and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions in India. In no case NRI students are eligible any quota in IITs in India.
2. Cost Effective: Most of the students who apply through CIWG Quota (For Gulf Students Only) for engineering colleges in India end paying a substantially low fee approx (6 Lakh) for 4 year degree. However students who apply through DASA may end up paying approx 22 Lakh indian rupees for 4 year degree in NITs and other 56 CFIs in India.
3. Competition: Considering the level of competitve difference between NRI student and Indian student – NRI students are allowed to write SAT 2 test instead on JEE for admission in NIT and CFIs in India. Please note that student who wish to go to IITs, they still have to write IIT-JEE examinations. Students who wish to go for NITs and CFIs can simply write SAT Subject Test (SAT 2) for admission. SAT 2 is supposed to a little easier compared to JEE.
4. Quality Education: Indian engineering education is renowned and accepeted globally. Getting the same education abroad will cost you 15-20 time more.
Cons:
1. No Common Test: NRI Quota is only applicable for NITs and CFIs, Its not valid for IITs in India. So, students who are planning for IITs should start preparing for JEE exam instead of focusing on NRI quota.
2. Infrastructure: Infrastructure of Indian Engineering Colleges may not look good to NRI students, having spent most of the time abroad. But, education quality is not compromised having said that. So, its a matter of adaptation.
3. Seats/Competition: Looking at the strenght of NRI students worldwide and aspiring students in India, it gets tough to get into IITs unless so are very determined. Its little easy to get into NITs and CFIs by writing SAT test, but total seats available for NRIs in NITs and CFIs are approx 2400 seats altogether.
Case 2 – Indian NRI students (Middle East) moving abroad
Pros:
1. Quality Education: If you are planning to get into the US best universities, no need to say that they are best one to study in. These colleges are top notch and are acclaimed all over the world.
2. Courses: Most of the engineering courses which are popular these days like Mechatronics, Aerospace etc. are very much practised in these universities. Such specialization will be difficult to find in Indian Universities as of now.
3. Combined Degree: Most of the universities have integrated course where students can complete their Bachelor's and Master toghter in 4 years. This is an added advantage.
Cons:
1. Fee: Fee in US universities (Other Universities Abroad) will be much higher compared to the Indian Universities.
2. Expenses: Studing abroad will be expensive altogether, expect fee there are other expenses to be met like – Hostel, Travel, Food, Books, Travel and others. This combined together will increase the expenses many fold.
3. Settlement: It is wise for those student who wish to stay in US after their education. There is no point in getting education abroad and then come back to india for your final settlement. For specific courses, this decision can be taken.
Engineering Abroad for NRI vs. Engineering in India for NRI:
Let’s dig into the Indian Colleges first:
Most Indian engineering colleges offer NRI Quota (~15%) particularly for the undergraduate students seeking to pursue Bachelor’s from the renowned colleges of India like College of Engineering, Pune, Institute of Chemical Technology, Xavier Institute of Engineering, Thadomal Shahani College of Engineering (TSEC), NMIMS Mukesh Patel etc.
Conclusion: Joining these highly prestigious colleges will cost you around 40000 USD.
But we also walk you through another option for NRI students. This scheme is known as DASA / CIWG and it is for NRIs all over the world. DASA scheme is a scheme launched by MHRD, India and It has been in-effective since 2001.
Let’s dig into the American Colleges now:
It sounds thrilling and exciting to pursue graduation from one of the prestigious American colleges like Harvard University, Stanford University, Dartmouth University, Mississippi Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown University etc. After pursuing graduation from such colleges, you’ll become innovative and can have job anywhere around the world.
The alone con seems to be here is the tuition fee of under graduation program. It costs you deadly. The mean fee for an undergraduate International Student would be over $60000.
Conclusion: Pursuing graduation by investing 60000 USD is quite expensive. Admit in the American Colleges only if you can bear such concrete tuition fees.
About DASA:
DASA scheme is for the undergraduate students whose motto is to hold Bachelor’s degree in Engineering / Architectural stream from the prospective colleges like NITs, IIITs and SPAs. Along with the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), Oversea Citizens of India (OCI) and Foreign Nationals (FNs) are also eligible to apply for the DASA scheme.
Make yourself familiar with the DASA 2019 scheme here. This would cost you around 35000 USD to finish your 4-year Bachelor’s degree.
About Gulf Quota:
There’s a special quota for Gulf based NRIs. This Gulf Quota is a part of DASA scheme. The best part applying under Gulf quota saves you a ton of money. It would cost around 5.5 Lakh INR to accomplish your entire engineering program.
Conclusion: Don’t even think to leave this opportunity if you’re a Gulf based NRI.
Send an email at [email protected] for further queries.
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