CHENNAI: The war and Covid-19 has kept Ukraine and China off-limits for foreign students, while making Russia and other central Asian countries like Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as the likely destinations for medical aspirants from Tamil Nadu for 2022-23. Poland and Baltic countries like Lithuania and Latvia could also generate interest, education consultants said. Though the Caribbean Islands and Malaysia also offer safer options, but medical education is expensive.
More than one lakh students sit for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) every year in TN where there are around 10,000 seats in medical colleges and deemed universities. Before Covid-19, 7,000-8,000 students were flying abroad every year to finish a six-year medical degree at 30 lakh-45lakh. Most TN students prefer destinations where MBBS costs 30 lakh-35 lakh.
“Russia is the only major country currently open for Indian medical aspirants,” said C Ravichandran, managing director, Study Abroad Educational Consultants.
Around 1,000 TN students went to Ukraine to study medicine every year. “These students can do medicine at 35 lakh-40 lakh in Ukraine universities. Other countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan which offer medicine in this range will attract more students this year,” said R Sureshkumar, managing director, Truematics - Overseas Education Consultancy, Chennai.
“Caribbean islands like Jamaica could be the next major destination for Indian students as they provide an opportunity to study postgraduate degree in the US,” said D Subhas Chandrabose, managing director of St Johns Educare India Private Limited.
