Don’t be a prey of the prying eyes
Ambitions of nearly 2,000 Indian students and thousands of other international students were crashed and burnt recently as 3 Canadian colleges announced an abrupt shutdown.
The panic-stricken teenagers were left in lurch. They had migrated to a foreign country and took admission in these colleges with a hope of receiving quality higher education. Each of these students had paid thousands of dollars in tuition fees. Many of them would have taken educational loans.
Financial burdens due to COVID was the colleges’ reason for deciding to shut down. But upon fact checks, it turned out that 2 of these 3 colleges didn’t even have authorization and licenses to admit international students!
If you are planning to study in Canada or pursue higher overseas education in any country of your choice, you must – must do your due diligence in checking these facts to avoid any unfortunate experience:
- Checks and double-checks: Verify everything about the college / university of your choice. Visit its website, make a phone call as and when necessary. Confirm facts with the local authorities if you are not convinced. You will spend only a few dollars in making those calls. Read blogs and reviews about the college. You have Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. More importantly, do not share your personal information to any unverified person / institution offering student visa on making a payment.
- Don’t be over-reliant on your education counsellor: Is your counsellor over-eager to send you to a particular college / university or a certain overseas destination? That’s a tell-tale sign of hidden agendas. Check his / her credentials. A counsellor’s job is to understand your academics, orientations, innate abilities and then give you overseas education options to choose from.
- Documentation checks: Once you have made the final decision, check and double-check about documents you need to carry. Keep them safe. Keep copies of each. Take pictures of them as well. Ensure that you have more than two places to source the copies from, in case you lose the originals.
These simple steps would go a long way in avoiding unpleasant experiences.
Be careful. Be certain. And bring the best out of your potential. Good luck for your higher overseas education aspiration.