The spotlight is now on the connect between Wuhan and Kerala as India’s all three positive novel coronavirus cases so far are students of a university in the historic Chinese city, the epicentre of the epidemic.
Wuhan has been a popular destination for Keralites and others as an educational hub with quality and affordable medical courses attracting overseas scholars. Impressed by factors such as affordability, amenities and international standards in medical education, offered in English, students from Kerala have been flocking to Wuhan University School of Medicine.
Wuhan, over 1,000 km from the Chinese capital of Beijing and 800-plus km from Shanghai, is a historic city and played a key role in the 20th century history of China.
“I am very happy about the medical education system at the Wuhan university. They offer quality education at an affordable fees,” a student who had returned from Wuhan said here on Tuesday. Aiswarya Hariharan, a third-year MBBS student, returned to India early January soon after the school was shut for vacation. According to her, the Wuhan University School of Medicine has become a centre of attraction for MBBS aspirants from Kerala because of its international standard.
“In our batch, there are about 70 international students. Interestingly, 50 of them are from Kerala,” said Aiswarya from Thripunithura, near here.
‘High standards’
Parent of another MBBS student studying in Wuhan said he sent his daughter there because of its high standard of education system in a fee affordable to him. “I spent ₹5 lakh to ₹6 lakh for fee, accommodation and food annually for my daughter. This fee amount is very less compared to many of the self-financing medical institutes with least facilities in India. Besides, studying overseas is beneficial for the students as they get an international exposure,” the parent said.
Revathy Krishnan from Thiruvananthapuram is also doing MBBS in Wuhan. The third-year student said she was very happy about her institute and its faculty who offer medical education on a par with any other reputed Indian medical institute.
The students said around 500 from Kerala were doing the MBBS course at the Wuhan university.
They expressed confidence that the Asian giant would overcome the crisis soon and they would be able to continue their education there.
Educational consultant Jacob George, general manager of the Asian Educational Consultancy, however, felt the number of students who went to China for MBBS was minimal as several others preferred countries such as Russia.
