Students give city a thumbs up

BANGALORE: That youths love Bangalore is a known fact. The reputation got another thumping endorsement from students for its engineering, science and management courses.
An 'Education hot-spot in India', a survey by education portal Minglebox.com, shows Bangalore as the preferred destination for 28% students who want to study science, 29% for engineering and 20% for MBA.Delhi was voted the best destination for medicine, arts and commerce while Bangalore stood second for medicine.
The first-of-its-kind countrywide survey covered 2,190 students in the 18-25 age group.
Conducted over 20 days from July 1, students were asked nine questions which included their choice of city offering the best college for courses in arts, commerce, science, engineering, medicine and MBA; factors which encourage one to relocate to a new city and factors which hinder relocation.
Respondents who ranged from diverse educational backgrounds in under-graduate and post-graduate courses said they preferred Bangalore for these courses due to the presence of many MNCs in search of talent, good institutions and interesting lifestyle.
As far as opting for arts courses was concerned, 35% of the respondents preferred colleges in and around Delhi. The next sought after city was Mumbai with 16% followed by Chennai and Bangalore with 9% each. However, the least preferred city for the arts was Ahmedabad (4%).
Delhi was voted the best city for commerce courses (31%), followed by Mumbai (20%) and Bangalore (13%). Kolkata was the least preferred (3%). Delhi was voted as the city offering best college in medicine.
Kavita Iyer, CEO, Minglebox.com, told TOI that every year there are several surveys conducted by various forums to determine top colleges across the country in various streams. "These are hardly ever determined on the basis of opinions of students or what they consider the best. That's why we decided to do a survey among students to determine what they thought were the best education hubs in the country," she said. Interestingly, 40% of the respondents are from smaller towns. "This indicates that a good percentage of students in smaller cities and towns aspire to relocate to bigger cities for education," she added.
COST THE BIGGEST HINDRANCE
The study shows the biggest hindrance for relocation is the high cost in some educational hot spots (36%). Also, the lack of awareness about courses and colleges in new cities (25%) is a problem. In a few cases, parental pressure (9%) is a problem. This shows that sometimes while students may be aware about education in newer cities, parents may not be willing to let them study there due to lack of awareness.
"Another interesting finding is that almost half the students want to shift to a new location because they want to experience the independence that comes with it (49%)," Kavita added.