Study Abroad News & Alerts

There has been a growing demand among young professionals to pursue a degree in management. However a lo,t of students do not want to leave their jobs and pursue full-time degrees. This is the reason why programs like executive MBA and online MBA have become extremely popular in the past few years. The University of Massachusetts has joined the bandwagon and is all set to offer its University of Massachusetts, Global Online Masters of Business Administration Program to students. This program has been launched in India and it is going to be an 18 months long program.

The best part about this program is its affordability factor. Students will get to study in the top institutions of the world without having to pay extravagant tuition fees. The program will focus on different dimensions like academic growth, bridging the gap between the market, transferring leadership qualities in individuals and , many more. The program is all set to begin on 13th May 2024. For more information, candidates can visit the official website of the university. 

UGC has released guidelines for private universities that want to set off-line campuses or centres. These universities will have to follow the UGC regulations, 2003. To further standardise the process of setting up new campuses, UGC has also modified certain policies for private universities. Under these policies, any university that is less than five years old is not allowed to set an off-line campus or centre. Also the offline centre must have an infrastructure that is at par with the main campus of the university.

 There are more than 471 UGC recognised universities but none of them have the right to start building an off-line campus on their own. These universities have to first take permission from UGC and then proceed. Private universities can send proposals to UGC with the proper plan and the reasons why they would like to extend their campus.

IIT Madras is all set to offer nine new courses to students on SWAYAM Plus which is an initiative started by the Ministry of Education in India. Under this new initiative, students will be able to learn new things through short-term courses offered in artificial intelligence, android application development, security analysis, data science, and many such similar fields. This is a strategy implemented by NEP to introduce courses in collaboration with the top institutes of the country like IIT Madras to offer short-term courses to students. Through this, the students can get a basic knowledge about contemporary disciplines like AI and data science to students without having to pay any tuition fees. All of these courses are accredited by the UGC and will carry a great value if the student is able to complete them properly.

The CBSE class 10th mathematics paper was held on 11th March, 2024. Students from different parts of the country gave the exam at their designated examination centres. The paper has been reviewed as moderate to easy by different students. Most of the students have said that the majority of the questions in the paper were from NCERT. Some students have said that the long questions and the case studies were a bit difficult in time taking. Because of being lengthy ,a lot of students were not able to complete their paper even lthough they knew how to solve the paper completely. Some students have said that 30 to 40% of the questions asked in the paper were from PYQs. All the students who prepared well for the exams were very satisfied with their performance in the exam.

The UK has introduced a new set of rules related to immigration. A lot of these rules are related to international students, especially the ones who want to pursue a masters degree. The number of dependent visas have been limited by the country. The restriction on dependent visas has already come into effect from January, 2024. This rule, however, doesn't apply to doctorate programmes as well as masters in research programs. One of the biggest reasons why most students will remain unaffected from these visa rules as per the British Council is the fact that most of the masters programs in the UK are pretty short. Mostly these programmes last for only a year. Therefore, it isn't very hard for international students to live in the UK without their family members or spouses for a year. These visa policies are not going to impact any other alternative routes that are present for international students. This includes the graduate route, young professional scheme, visa visits, and skilled work.

The US Ambassador to India will become a part of the consular team that is going to Interview 1000 Indian applicants for the US Visa. In 2023, the US consulate processed more than 1.3 million visas for Indian candidates. The number is expected to increase in 2024. The motive of the ambassador is to provide some support in fingerprint assistance, verification process, and other legalities involved with processing visas. By doing so, the US consulate wants to understand the shortcomings in the visa processing for Indian candidates. As the demand for the US visas is expected to increase in India, the US government wants to make sure that all the interested in genuine candidates are granted a student Visa at the right time. In the past few months, the multiple US Consulates have opened different parts of India to make Visa applications more accessible for students.

The NTA will most likely release exam city slips for JEE Mains session two by the third week of March. All those students who have filled the form for JEE Mains session two exam will be able to download it from the official website of JEE or NTA. The admit cards will be released just three days before the allotted examination date. students can simply download the exam Siddhi slips by entering their application number and date of birth. The exam city slips contain information related to the city allotted for the examination centre and the date of exam. Students can therefore make arrangements prior and prepare likewise. For the latest update, students can keep checking the official website of JEE to remain in touch with all the news related to the exam. 

The UGC has launched a new portal for the purpose of representation of women scientists in India. The portal is called SheRNI. The purpose of the portal is to connect more than 80,000 women scientists in India who are working in different fields of research. This initiative has been designed by the UGC chairman for the purpose of identifying thousands of women who contribute massively in different research domains of the country. 

It will also be a national level platform for various female scholars to collaborate and further their scientific endeavours. The database currently has more than 81,000 registered women, scientists and over 6,75,000 research publications. It also has more than 11,500 patents. The platform will also help in creating awareness among the upcoming women in STEM and provide them with the needed moral boost and source of inspiration.

IIT Delhi’ Department of Humanities And Social Science has announced its new masters program. The programme will be called MA Culture, Society, Thought. Students will be able to take admission in this program through a written test that will be organised by the institute on 18th May, 2024. All the students who will be able to clear the written test part will have to appear for an interview round before getting selected for the program. 

The programme will start from July, 2024. The registration process for the examination will begin on 20th March, 2024 and will go on till 4th April, 2024. The programme will revolve around diverse, theoretical and methodological subjects. All of the subjects will have a very diverse approach towards the contemporary world. Those who will be able to maintain a CGPA of 8.0 in the programme will be able to directly apply for the PhD program at the institute.

Five colleges of Delhi University have signed an MoU with the Rekhi Foundation for happiness to launch a new course teaching students the science of happiness. This new course will become a part of the curriculum of these five colleges of Delhi University. Students will be able to enrol in the program and learn about the art of remaining happy in different situations of life. Along with the Rekhi foundation, a new Centre for Excellence for Science of Happiness will be established in all these colleges. 

The curriculum of these programmes is yet to be shared by the university. The university is yet in the process of developing a curriculum for the program. Once it is fully formulated, it will be shared for students. The five colleges that have become a part of this initiative are different women colleges of Delhi University. This includes the Lady Shri Ram College, Gargi University, Daulat Ram College, Miranda House and Indraprastha College for women.

The CUET PG exam has officially started from 11th March, 2024. NTA already released the admit cards for students who registered themselves for the exam and got their examination dates on 11th March, 2024. Currently students who will be appearing for the exam for the upcoming dates or waiting for their admit cards to be released. The PG exams will go on till 28th March, 2024. The examinations will be conducted in three different slots on each date. Candidates have to bring their ID and small photographs along with their admit card to the examination centre. 

Students must also have a self declaration form that is clearly printed and signed by the candidate. To download their admit cards, candidates can go on the official website of CUET PG and login their information. It is compulsory to carry one's identity card, admit card and passport size photograph to the examination centre to be able to take the test.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, India Mr Bhupinder Patel has announced two new schemes for students of Gujarat. The budget allocation for these two schemes is INR 1500 crores. These two schemes are Namo Lakshmi Yojana and Namo Saraswati Vigyan Sadhana. Both of these schemes target secondary and higher education in the state of Gujarat. The Namo Lakshmi Yojana has a budget allocation of INR 1250 crores and is going to benefit girls students throughout the state. All the girl students in Gujarat will be awarded the scholarship of Rs.50,000 for their education from class 9th to 12th. 

The government is targeting at least 10,00,00 beneficiaries of the scholarship. The other project aims to emphasise the importance of science-based education in the state. The Namo Saraswati Vigyan Scheme will help students scoring more than 50% in their class 10th board exams take admission in CBSE recognised schools offering science stream. Full support will be provided to the students by the state government.

The Union Education Minister of India, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan has launched 52 short books in non-scheduled languages for students studying in primary classes in India. A lot of tribal languages have also been covered for a better reach. These books cover various topics, such as early childhood care and health to spread information among students and their parents. This will be a cardinal step in promoting education in India, especially for people who do not know how to read or write in the official or nationally recognised languages of India.

It will help in a deeper understanding and conceptual clarity. The short books have been launched by the central government in collaboration with the Central Institute of Indian Languages. All these steps are being taken to transform the education scenario of India and introduce new policies that can make education more accessible to students in India. 

NTA has extended the registration date for NEET UG till March 16. Candidates can register themselves for the exam till March 16 now. The registration for the exam started on February 9, 2024. The exam is scheduled to be organised on May 5, 2024. examination is conducted throughout India and in 14 different centres across different countries. NTA has extended the registration date for the exam as it received a lot of queries from different stakeholders. It has already been told to students that the extension of the exam is a one-time opportunity and all those students who missed out on registering for the exam can do it now. If candidates are facing any problem while registering themselves, they can contact the helpline number shared by NTA. Post pandemic, the number of registrations received by NTA for NEET UG has been on the rise.

Immigration New Zealand has been working consistently hard to improve the amount of time that international students have to wait to get their student visas. They have given the staff a lot of smart tools to analyse all the applicants more effectively that would help in saving the time for both the ends. After much deliberation, the Immigration New Zealand has come up with various strategies that can let the country process a lot of visas at a time. New Zealand experienced a high peak in the number of student visa applications in 2022. In 2023, there has been a further increase of 20% in the number of visa applications received by the country from international students. However, a lot of students had to wait for long intervals for their visas. To solve this problem, the country has come up with effective strategies to cut down the visa waiting time.

Amazon India has given scholarships to 500 female students in India. The scholarship has been given to students under the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship Program. Students selected for the scholarship will be given an amount of Rs.50,000 per year under this scholarship. Other than financial support, Amazon India will also provide coding bootship programmes and mentorship to the selected students regarding their career. The campaign has given importance to 49 different kinds of programs in the field of STEM. Through this initiative, Amazon India wants to help female students of the country and also inspire more girls to take part in STEM programmes. This year, students will also be provided with personal laptops to further enhance the quality of the study.

Delhi University is most likely to extend the validity of two MPhil  programs including MPhil in clinical psychology and social work and MPhil in psychiatric social work. As per NEP 2020, MPhil degree is to be discontinued in India and it is something that should be applicable on all the institutes. No institutions shall offer these courses and only the students who have already enrolled in these programmes should be allowed to complete these courses. However, Delhi University is most likely to extend the validity of the 2 programs stated above till 2025-2026. The proposal will be made by the council on 8th March, 2024 and will be under review. After the apprehensions expressed by the dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Delhi University, the decision to extend this proposal has been taken. 

The scheduled date for NEET MDS 2024 is 18th March, 2024. It is just around the corner. However, all the aspirants are still not given a clear explanation regarding the exam and its possible re-allotment dates. Students had been submitting a petition regarding the postponement of the exam as they were not given enough time to prepare for the examination. Despite multiple protests and petitions, the authorities have not given any proper answer. The All India Students Union has also written a letter to the Prime Minister of India regarding the same. The NEET MDS exam is generally organised after the NEET PG internship is concluded. However, the exam that has been scheduled in March violates the whole policy of the exam schedule as it is conducted before the right time. The All India Medical Council as well as NTA is yet to give a statement on the same.

IIM Calcutta has decided to make a lot of changes in the interest structure and the academic curriculum of the institution to attract more and more international students. The institute will be building new hostels that will be equipped with the latest facilities for students. There will also be creation of new academic blocks to attract scholars from different parts of the world. In the past few years, many new IIMs as well as old and well-established institutes have made a lot of changes in their interest structure as well as academic curriculum in the past few years. However, IIM Calcutta has made no such changes, which is why it is the right time for the institute to make all the necessary changes. The estimated cost of the project is being considered INR 250 crores. The institute is also trying to revise its vision and is looking at the current education scenario with a global perspective. 

Anil Menon is the son of an Indian immigrant living in the US. He has recently graduated with a degree in medicine from Stanford University. He also went to attend the Jawaharlal Nehru University in India for a year. Dr Menon has now officially graduated as an astronaut after two years of stringent training with NASA. He was selected in the class of 2021 by NASA for training astronauts. Menon has accomplished a career in both Aeronautics and medicine. He has also got a degree from Harvard University in neurobiology. Before working with NASA, Dr Menon also worked with space ex in a lot of its important projects. He has also been deployed in Afghanistan and Nepal for medical missions from the US. His combined expertise of aeronautics and medicines have proved to be extremely beneficial to the US. Now, everyone waits to see what this great academic and now astronaut has in store for the future.