Indian students face no takeoff blues as global coronavirus curbs ease

Indian students are now finding it much easier to travel overseas for higher education as most countries have eased restrictions for people travelling from India amid a fall in Covid-19 cases and widening vaccination in the country, though airfares are soaring.

Higher education consultants such as Leverage Edu, Collegify, Yocket and LilacBuds – which together are helping about a couple of thousand students get admissions to foreign colleges this year – peg the US at the top in terms of ease of student travel.

Students traveling to Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) countries, too, are facing no trouble traveling to their campuses though RT-PCR test certificate is required in many countries, they said. Most countries now accept Covishield vaccine.


“Travel rules have eased as India moved from red to amber list for the UK, and Indian students no longer need to quarantine in a government-managed facility for 10 days at considerable additional cost,” said Akshay Chaturvedi, founder of Leverage Edu.

Adarsh Khandelwal, cofounder at Collegify, said, “US by far is the most relaxed as of today. There are no hurdles on visa and only self-isolation is needed.”

However, with international travel picking up and the government ban on scheduled international flight continuing, airfares to many destinations have almost doubled in recent weeks. A student who is to leave for an MSc international management course at Loughborough University London told ET that UK airfares have doubled over the last few weeks.

Khandelwal said fares for students travelling to the US also have almost doubled over the last few months.

All international passenger flights operating now are under bilateral air bubble pacts with select nations. India has air bubble pacts with around 25 countries including the US, UK and France. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Sunday extended the ban on international passenger flights by a month till September 30.

Covishield Widely Accepted
While all the three Covid-19 vaccines currently available in India – Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V – are excluded from the EU’s ‘green pass’, 16 European countries besides the US and Canada accept Covishield, experts said.

Global education institutions such as University of Toronto and ESSEC in France confirmed students fully vaccinated with Covishield are welcome.

“France recognises the Covishield vaccine and those students do not need to get additional vaccines or self-isolate upon arriving in France,” an ESSEC spokesperson said in an emailed response. Students vaccinated with Covaxin, however, have to self-isolate for seven days and “are eligible to get vaccinated in France if they wish to do so”, the person said.

A University of Toronto spokesperson said it expects unvaccinated students to have their first dose by September 13 and to be fully vaccinated by October 15 in line with the recent recommendation of Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health. Leverage Edu’s Chaturvedi said it is sending more than 500 students to EU countries this fall and they are not required to undergo quarantine. Students heading to Germany and Ireland have to either provide proof of vaccination with Covishield or proof of recovery from Covid-19, he said. Canada, while open, is struggling with very high demand and hence has a terrible Visa lag, Chaturvedi said. Sumeet Jain, cofounder of overseas education consultancy firm Yocket, said almost all the EU colleges are accepting students with Covishield. A 24-year-old student who recently got an admission for MBA at Esade in Barcelona, Spain with the help of Collegify said he had no challenges in traveling to his campus. He had got his two doses of Covishield in India. More than 100 students are going to various colleges in the US through Collegify this year. The consultant is also sending close to 100 students to UK colleges and 50 students each to colleges in the EU and Canada.

For Pooja Gupta pursuing MSc International management in London, Covaxin was the first choice but she later opted for Covishield as it was recognised for international travel. Yet, she has to follow a 10-day quarantine, Gupta told ET.