What the pandemic has caused great disruption to is, abroad education of international candidates who were planning to pursue their higher studies in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and more. Though, it should be mentioned that the urge to pursue abroad education has not been shattered by the global pandemic.

There is a wave of candidates applying to foreign universities for the Fall Semester (commencing September 2020), but the major concern in the scene is, whether universities will be able to open their gates to international students. This has to be done by adhering to the travel regulations of those countries and also abiding by the Covid-related restrictions. The aspirants are pumped about pursuing higher education abroad, but academicians and experts have stated the rise in competition in 2021.

A surge in Applications

There has been a lag in the count of applications as the candidates who planned to study abroad last year faced trouble and is now gearing up for it – increasing the applicant count, therefore.

Certain ed-tech companies have talked about the fact that the moment the candidates perceived the fact that COVID-19 is here to stay and nothing can be done about it, they prioritized their academic and career goals over the pandemic, quite expectantly. The candidates have a similar amount of interest even this year to study abroad, and this has resulted in the surge of applications and counseling sessions at certain ed-tech companies.

It has been stated that 2021 will see both new applicants and the ones who applied last year but couldn’t pursue because of the hindrances caused by the pandemic. The students, this year are more focused on attaining the admission offer and deciding later on as to whether they can make it abroad or not.

Stephanie Winters, the public relations manager of ETS has stated that there has been an increase in TOEFL and GRE test-taking and that directly tells how the candidates are interested in studying abroad.

Winters has further said, “To date, more than 4,00,000 test-takers globally have registered for the ‘TOEFL iBT Home Edition’ (TOEFL took at home) and GRE General Test at home since their launch eight months ago, tens of thousands of which are from India alone,”.

In fact, many other industry experts have placed their views on how there has not been a striking change in the course of study abroad.