Foreign students in Kerala varsities air their concerns

March 07, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 07:55 am IST - Thiruvananthapuram:

A platform for them:A Russian student shares her experiences at an international students’ meet organised by the Kerala State Higher Education Council and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.— Photo: S. Mahinsha

A platform for them:A Russian student shares her experiences at an international students’ meet organised by the Kerala State Higher Education Council and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.— Photo: S. Mahinsha

“What will we do if the fee keeps on rising like this? Earlier, we were paying the fee in rupees; one fine day they changed it to dollars, with the fee increasing 10 times. We can understand if you adjust the fee for inflation, but such drastic changes will make it unable for us to continue,” complains Mehdi Naghdi Bahar, an Iranian research scholar in the Department of Commerce of the University of Kerala, to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The Chief Minister looks around for any official from the university. None of them seems to be present. He notes down a few points and asks T.P. Sreenivasan, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), to take appropriate action.

“We can’t do anything about the exchange rates. But we can certainly consider your request if there has been an unfair increase with retrospective effect,” says Mr. Sreenivasan.

An international students’ meet for students from across the globe studying in different universities in the State to share their experiences and apprehensions provided a platform for the students to put across a variety of issues concerning them to the Chief Minister and the KSHEC officials. The meet was organised jointly by the KSHEC and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) on Friday.

Part-time work

The increase in fee seemed to be the major problem faced by the students, especially those from Iran, who did not have the ICCR scholarship and had to support themselves financially. Many students complained that they were not being able to work part-time to raise money. “In most Western countries, you are allowed to work part-time to fund your studies. But, here the rules don’t allow us to,” says Mohsen Zireki, a research scholar.

The delay in getting certificates was another concern. Lack of coordination was another complaint.

“When I reached the university, I found that no one from the ICCR had informed them of my arrival. There clearly is an information deficit. Also, we have to run around a lot to get things done as there is no one person to co-ordinate things,” says Kwasi Nyarko from Ghana, who is doing his MA in International Relations and Politics at Mahatma Gandhi University.

Language issues

Some students wanted a facility to learn Malayalam in their universities, as “one cannot get all things done just with English.”

As the morning session stretched on, a Malaysian student showcased his knowledge of the language, saying “enikku vishakkunnu” (I am hungry).

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.