New Delhi: As many as eight in 10 or 80 per cent Indian undergraduate students feel hopeful about their finances in the future, the second-highest of 21 countries surveyed for a new “Global Student Survey” released on Friday, with only China and Kenya jointly ahead at 84 per cent.
The findings were published by the non-profit arm of education technology company Chegg. It also revealed that after the COVID-19 pandemic, 54 per cent of Indian students would like their university course to incorporate more online learning, the fourth highest of any other country surveyed – equal to Canada (54 per cent) and behind Saudi Arabia (78 per cent), China (77 per cent) and South Korea and Australia (both 57 per cent), Hindustan Times (HT) reported.
According to the survey’s worldwide results, Indian students agree with their peers across all 21 countries when it comes to how higher education should embrace online learning. Around two-third (65 per cent) of students across the surveyed countries say they would rather want their university offered the choice of more online learning if it meant paying lower tuition fees.
The survey also finds that over two-third (68 per cent) of Indian students think the country is a better place to live in than it was five years ago and as many as 84 per cent believe they will own their own home before they are 35.
“One thing that unites students around the globe is that they have experienced first-hand the greatest disruption to education the world has ever known. This survey shows the COVID pandemic has laid bare for students that the higher education model needs to be reimagined, shorter, on-demand, personalised and provide scalable support,” said Dan Rosensweig, president and CEO of Chegg.
“Technology and online learning are a permanent part of modern education and should dramatically reduce the cost of learning and make it more skills-based. When approximately two-thirds of students across the countries surveyed say they would like their university to offer the choice of more online learning if it means paying lower tuition fees, and when over half of students say they would prefer their university course to be shorter, if it was more affordable, we know something has to change,” he said.