Students who got overseas scholarship under the NTR Videshi Vidyadharana are also among those who were implicated in the U.S. visa fraud, according to Atlanta-based vernacular journalist and founder-director of the Indo-Amercian Student Council Kumar Annavarapu.
Mr. Kumar, who has been crusading against “one-room” universities in the United States, told The Hindu over phone that many of the students who got overseas scholarships from the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had fallen prey to racketeers who got them the necessary visas by getting them admission into universities without TOEFL or GRE, and which did not require them to attend any classes. The Andhra Pradesh Government was giving these students ₹10 lakh and Telangana ₹20 lakh, he pointed out.
Mr. Kumar, a Ph.D, made an indepth study of universities in the United States in 2015-16. He and his team reportedly travelled 1,28,000 km, visiting over 100 universities to interview 50 presidents, provists, deans and directors, 250 professors and over 1,500 students for a series of programmes on education in the U.S. for a vernacular channel. He has been crusading against Indian students joining universities that had no facilities.
Mr. Kumar said that it was not entirely the fault of students. The government which was making an investment should ensure that they get into the right universities. There were over 4,800 universities in the U.S. as it was very easy to set up a university there. All that was required for establishing a university was a small room, he said.
I-20 forms
There were several occasions in which the I-20 forms issued by these universities get honoured and the student gets visa very easily, Mr. Kumar said. Telugu students were also going for “illegal jobs” and this made the American Government to start sting operations to catch them, Mr. Kumar said. Though Telugu students were very clever, they were opting for universities where the academic pressure was the least, he lamented.
