Foreign Universities experience a huge influx of International students each year, these student numbers are integral to the revenue model and the overall profitability of the Institutions. A large majority of these students are from affluent families in the Northern region of India. The students from the capital city of Delhi and the National capital region mostly enroll in Universities located in the UK, USA, Europe and Canada for the Undergrad and graduate programs.

The current crisis has posed a big problem for these students and their families, the pandemic will ensure that travel across borders will not be possible. Parents will feel safer to have their children study closer to home and mostly within the Delhi NCR region. The Foreign Universities may have offered admissions to several students but they will not be able to join them physically, although they plan to start online classes, but it won’t be the same feeling. The fee charged by the Universities is a huge amount and online classes from a remote location will not suffice student expectation. Another concern is that the timeline for the current situation is bleak and the future is uncertain. The above scenario might infact lead to a reverse flow to students to the top leading Universities in the Delhi, Gurugram & Noida belt.

Which Indian Universities will have an edge In the Delhi NCR region and will end up attracting these students to their campuses:

International Collaborations & Mindset: Universities that have historically been imparting International degrees and programs from India, they definitely have an International mindset and are equipped to handle student requirements. Also the students can easily transfer their credits after one year to any University of their choice.

Centrally located campuses: City campuses will surely gain in this situation, as students will not be moving to hostels and far off residential campuses.

Well networked peer group: Universities and campuses that are engaging students from the DLF Golf course areas and centrally located in Delhi or Noida will have a huge traction for these students, as they can network and study with a peer group they relate to

Globally benchmarked curriculum: Universities that deliver globally benchmarked courses, have strong intellectual capital and have a legacy in education will be the first preference

Boutique campuses: that cater to a niche segment of students and not mass universities will be the only option to choose from.

The choice for the students is only limited to a few and most will try to be able to secure seats in these Universities in India. The whole dimension of education is changing and government universities may not be in a position to offer the infrastructure the customer desires.

  Top 5 Job Skills to achieve success in 2020

The world is evolving and moving fast, acquiring new and relevant skills is essential to be able to make our mark in the Corporate world. The Companies of today need employees to have strong skill sets to be able to add value and handle complex tasks.

Image credits: http://dawgen.blogspot.com/2017/11/research

Data Analytics: has emerged as one of the most critical skills for the coming decade, the understanding, use and application of data for business decision making and analysis

Design Thinking: this skills helps us to apply creativity, challenge assumptions, innovation and problem solving to work and business, it fuels the integration and assimilation of a business requirement, engages people into a panoramic or 360 view of work and the world. It relates decision making and impact on business and its environment.

Critical Thinking: makes us view and review work with a critics perspective, it helps us understand what has been done, how it has been done, what influenced it and what can be done better. It builds a unique analysis from the view of an outsider, basically similar to stepping out of the frame and reviewing wok done.

Emotional Intelligence: it is the strongest skill to help us manage emotions for self and others, as Daniel Goldman rightly shares in his theories, it helps to build strong and lasting relationships and work in harmony with our environment. It is essential for people management and to achieve success in life and at work.

Collaboration: working together joins the best qualities of each individual and binds them together, working alone limits our ability to achieve the best solution. Collaboration is the key for organizations to move ahead and business needs us to pool our resources and abilities to achieve our targets.

The current situation and future of the world seems to be undergoing a rapid change. People are struggling hard to maintain their livelihood, remain relevant to their organizations, struggling to keep their jobs, basically an all-out fight for survival. What does this downturn present for Education and Universities of the future, how will they get recruit students when they can’t meet them or see them. The future of Edutech will lead this foray, the top trends will emerge in education and only the fittest and most futuristic will survive

Digitize Education– Taking all popular courses online partnering with Elearning providers like Udemy, courser and Upgrad for exclusive customized course packs for students. The Universities of the Future need to see the learner trend evolving. Elearning tools like Microsoft teams, Zoom, Google classrooms, interactive learning apps, breakout rooms, VR/AR led experiences, cloud based platforms are all the new normal.

Democratize Education– All the cards are on the deck, the Elearning model makes everything accessible to the learner and they engage in their own time. The sessions, videos, assignments are all available for all to view and access, most content companies have made their content free for all, to empower and support the learning continuum.

Dematerialize Education-This era will see the increased dependency and reliability on online content, this learning model does not need books, note pads, stationary, bags and traditional items. It is the need for digipads, stylis, earphones, access to databases and ELearning software.

Demonetize Education- Education providers can no longer command a price premium, with Ivy league institutions having gone free with world class courses, India’s topnotch institutes taking their content online students have a wide access to the best.

Only organizations that can envision the future, prepare and provide for them will thrive, the world is changing faster than we imagined. The learner of tomorrow is a highly digital being, plugged into technology, with a wide access to unlimited information, learns at her/his own convenience maybe at work. The jobs have changed and companies will look for new skills, its time Universities recoiled and reformed themselves. The future student will learn remotely, online and in his own time….realtime.