Global Recession Hits GRE Exam takers

HYDERABAD Dec 26 : Global meltdown and a series of murders of Indian youth, especially from Andhra Pradesh, in America seem to have deterred studentsfrom taking the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) that enables admission into academic programmes in the US. The number of aspirants taking GRE has come down drastically: it has fallen from 75,000 in the last year to 55,000 this year.

India, which used to lead in its share of GRE candidates, has come almost to the level of China this year (52,000).

A city-based consultants Education Testing Services, said the number has come down in the city as well with not more than a few hundred students opting for the test. "The numbers are low this year. Since this is a countrywide scenario, we were not surprised. The meltdown and anxiety about future prospects could be the reason," an ETS consultant told TOI.

Most students who go abroad usually opt for either business management, technical education or medicine. According to the ETS website, the GRE takers for 2008 from across the globe were expected to be around 6,75,000 whereas the figures at the closing of the year is 6,21,000.

"I was planning to apply for a short-term course in finance in the US, but dropped the plan as not many post-studies opportunities are existing now. There was also talk this year that the GRE will be tougher as not many immigrants are welcome to the US during the meltdown," Gillete Sam, a language trainer and MBA student from the city, said.

Meanwhile, coaching institutes which were teeming with GRE aspirants the previous years have been hit by the meltdown. "The number of students joining the institute for GRE coaching has also gone down. Many of them expressed fears that the current economic crisis might not give them a chance to settle in the US. Who would want to return to India after paying through the nose," TIME course coordinator and spokesperson Jaideep Singh Chowdhary said. Chowdhary said students were also worried about their safety aboard as many students had been murdered in the past few months in the US.

The all-time low in the recent years is after the upsurge of the number of applicants from the India in 2007. The ETS had to stop the tests as the number of people applying for tests were more than they could manage.

The ETS has plans of conducting orientation programmes to increase the number of applicants as the graduate programmes in the US would have to be run with vacant seats as most of the Asian students in America are from India and China.