The other indication of the students’ growing craze for foreign colleges is the mushrooming of IELTS coaching institute in small towns.

Chandigarh: Punjabis’ love for foreign shores is well-known, however, the latest to feel the heat of this craze are colleges and universities of the state. Around 90,000 students from the state flew abroad last year leaving huge vacancies in the state’s educational institutions.

The universities in the state are witnessing 20 per cent fall in admissions and are desperately luring students from other states. The craze to study in foreign colleges (read Canada) even inspired  the Punjabi film industry to make a movie called Jat Vs IELTS to cash in on the trend. In this comedy movie a village simpleton is desperate to study in Canada. He takes admission in an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) coaching institute to realize his dream, which is run by a man with very limited knowledge of English. The movie is a reflection of latest trend in Punjab.

According to Kamal Bhumla, chairman of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, “About 90,000 students from Punjab had moved abroad last year. This time the Canadian government has listed 200 colleges for admission. So the rush has increased. The current year figures will come later.”

Even the most sought-after colleges in Punjab in the last few years are seeing a drop in admission of local students. These colleges were forced to take in students from other states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Though admissions with late fee will go on till August 31, most universities and colleges have been ruing about slow admission and poor response. Dr N.P. Singh, Dean, IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, said there had been a fall of up to 25 per cent in admission in various undergraduate and post-graduate engineering and management courses. “We had about 590 seats last time and we increased it this time, going by the previous trend. But students somehow seem to be more inclined on going to Canada after Class 12. We have been trying to tap such students too by collaborating specifically with Canadian universities,” he said. Anshu Kataria, president, Punjab Unaided Colleges Association and chairman of Aryans group, said, “There is a decline in engineering admissions. However, degrees related to pharmacy, nursing and agriculture are doing well perhaps because these courses offer a good scope to students planning to move to Canada.”

The other indication of the students’ growing craze for foreign colleges is the mushrooming of IELTS coaching institute in small towns.

“Earlier students would go abroad to pursue post-graduate degrees but now even Class 12 pass-outs prefer studying in foreign universities. Fewer job opportunities at home and the difficulty in getting admission in the top institutes are the major reasons for the growing trend of studying abroad. Students are also fascinated by the modern lifestyle in other countries,” said Manjit Singh who runs a IELTS centre in Kharar. “My father is a farmer here. I don’t want to take up farming. I want to study in Canada and settle there,” says Harpreet Singh of Khnola village near Ropar.