You Don’t Need to Be Rich to Study Abroad | Asslam I Shaikh | TEDxBIT Jaipur
The speaker argues that studying abroad is not reserved for the wealthy, sharing success stories of students who pursued international education on modest budgets. He presents various affordable options including scholarships, tuition-free programs, and emerging destinations that make global education accessible to middle-class Indian families.
Summary
The presentation begins with the success story of Akshai Carvir, a Mumbai student with 62% marks whose father had only a 10 lakh rupee budget for his MBA. Despite being ridiculed by friends, Akshai successfully completed his MBA in Ireland and now works as a senior system analyst at Dell. The speaker then systematically debunks the myth that studying abroad is only for the privileged, presenting multiple affordable pathways. He explains that scholarships are available for students with 70-80% marks, not just top performers, and can reduce fees significantly or provide complete tuition waivers. Germany's TU9 universities offer tuition-free programs with courses taught in English, where students only need to cover living expenses through part-time work. Countries like Switzerland, Ireland, and the UK offer 'earn while you learn' programs with internships paying 1-2 lakh rupees monthly. The speaker highlights emerging destinations like Malaysia and Hungary, where world-class universities charge only 3-4 lakhs per year - less than many Indian private institutions. He shares another success story of Maz, an 18-year-old cricket lover who studied in Budapest with a budget under 6 lakhs. The speaker reveals his personal motivation: his own deferred MBA dream due to family financial constraints, which later became his mission to make international education accessible. This led him to visit 17 countries, build the free platform alif.in, and create a community of educational mentors to help ordinary students achieve extraordinary futures.
Key Insights
- Scholarships for international study are available to students with marks as low as 70-80%, not just academic superstars, and can provide complete tuition fee waivers at top-ranking universities
- Germany's TU9 universities offer completely tuition-free bachelor's and master's programs taught in English, requiring students to only prepare for living expenses and travel costs
- Universities in countries like Hungary and Malaysia charge only 3-4 lakhs per year for world top 600 ranking institutions, which is less expensive than many Indian private universities
- The barrier to studying abroad is not financial but rather a mindset problem, as abundant opportunities exist but awareness of these opportunities is lacking
- Internship programs in countries like Switzerland, Ireland and UK can pay students 1-2 lakh rupees per month, providing 50-70% return on educational investment while studying
Topics
Transcript
[0:03] My TED talk today is titled You don't need to be rich to study abroad. It's a story about how dreams can cross across the border without crossing your budget. And it begins with one young man's story. Akshai Carvir. Akshai grew up in Mumbai. A decent student completed his graduation from NMMS college with 62%age. Not the kind of marks that make headlines but enough to keep his dream alive. Aka wanted to pursue his MBA. His [0:34] father was a die maker having a small factory and they had a very specific budget not more than 10 lak rupees for his MBA course and his friends used to make a laugh. How can you go abroad and…
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