`The European Dream’: Over 30,000 J&K students travel abroad for studies every year

Srinagar: Ayaan Zameer, 18, always aspired to study and work in Europe.

He prepared hard and even secured distinction in the 12th class last year to become eligible. Luck too favored him and He got admission to one of the prestigious colleges in Australia.

“It is a known fact that the west prefers only those candidates who have studied in prestigious colleges in Europe. I am doing my bachelors in Business Studies and will hopefully get a job here in Australia,” he said.

Ayaan is not an isolated case. Many students now prefer higher education abroad. 

 Data accessed by The Kashmir Monitor reveal over 30,000 students from Jammu and Kashmir prefer foreign countries for studies each year.

 Figures reveal that for every one lakh population, 219 students go abroad for studies each year. It implies that 30,000 students  from Jammu and Kashmir, which has a population of 1.35 crore, travel to foreign countries for studies,

 Documents reveal that USA, Turkey, Australia, Ukraine, Italy, and Russia are the most preferred countries for students of Jammu and Kashmir.

 Similarly, Bangladesh, China, and Malaysia receive a good number of students from Jammu and Kashmir.

Most of the students study medicine, while others prefer business administration.

 Every year, 2,000 candidates from the UT move to Bangladesh for medical studies because it has English as a medium of language.

 A good proportion of students also move to Pune, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad for high studies.

 Rameez Raja, owner of an education consultancy said the limited seats available in Kashmir colleges and the quality of education in foreign countries was attracting students to pursue their higher education out of the country.

 “The main reason is that Europe has a good job market. It becomes easy for a student to get placement within the campus if he or she studies in a European college. Another reason is that we have limited seats for courses like medicine, which have a huge demand in India,” he said.