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inspiruseducation · 5 years ago

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The importance of data and research in the students life journey

The 21st century is truly an overwhelmingly impressive experience for people of all genders and ages. In today’s fast-paced world, it is child’s play for one to get lost amidst the mayhem and confusion. The introduction of hundreds of new courses for students to select from can pose a challenge when trying to figure out one’s educational course of action. “So what is the best or the most rewarding course for my child to pursue?” – a commonly asked question by most parents. However, the truth is that there is no concrete answer to that very question.

With the introduction of newer courses comes the opportunity of new business ideas and even innovative new professions. 5 years back no one would have imagined that a professional Gamer or a Social Media Influencer could make enough to support their livelihood. Rather than having a student completely focused on one course, in today’s day and age, it is imperative for students to be multi-faceted in their approach to education.

As markets have become more demanding, consumers are often spoiled for choices when they are on the verge of buying products. Suppliers will try their level best to make their product more versatile, trying to encompass all the demands. Similarly, employers are looking out for graduates who can not only fulfill core requirements but also have several other skills that may pertain to subjects completely unrelated to what one has excelled in previously.

For example, an engineer is not selected solely for his technical know-how. A candidate with a more holistic profile, someone who can communicate effectively with the sales and marketing team to understand the psychology of the consumers in order to make the most suitable product, someone who can effectively work as a team member and contribute would be seen as a better fit.

The need for better research skills and understanding data science is of utmost importance now more than ever before. Research skills can be described as being able to provide in-depth information, detailed analysis and suitable advice on a given topic after researching extensively on that topic. Research Skills allows graduates to recognize a problem, gather informational resources that can help acknowledge the issue at hand, assess these resources for quality and relevance, and come up with an effective solution to the problem. In today’s day in order to inculcate good research skills, one can follow the motto ‘Data is King’. An interdisciplinary field, data science deals with processes and systems, which are used to extract knowledge or insights from large amounts of data. Data science, over the past decade, has played a pivotal role in several industries like agriculture, marketing optimization, risk management, fraud detection, marketing analytics, and public policy among others.

The stream of graduates coming into the pool of the job world is constantly beating their predecessors. With the world focusing more on increasing automation, many reliable and noteworthy traditional jobs have become almost extinct. A cameraman who would traditionally sit in a helicopter and take award-winning photographs has been rendered jobless, with the introduction of drones in the market, as also the pilot in charge of commanding the helicopter.

Liberal arts and sciences have intertwined with technical and quantitative skills to form a compelling interdisciplinary field. The 3 R’s of education – [R]eading, w[R]iting and a[R]ithmatic, are now obsolete and have been replaced by the 7 C’s – [C]omprehension, [C]ommunication, [C]omputation, [C]uriosity, [C]ritical thinking, [C]ollaboration, and [C]onsciousness. The T-shaped individual is now the ideal candidate – someone with the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field coupled with the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one’s own.

— @Bakhtawar Krishnan

Director| Inspirus Education

Email – [email protected]

#data science #research

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inspiruseducation · 5 years ago

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Study Abroad & Your Career Will Thank You

In November 2010, on a cold wintry morning I was standing on an anchorage on the Magellan Strait in Punta Arenas about to board a German research vessel. There was nervous excitement in the air as I walked towards the ship. The heavy gusts of wind, the overcast sky, the smell of the briny strait and the stench of decaying seaweed brought about an uneasy calm in me, much like before a storm. Among all the thoughts running through my head of what the next three months will bring forth, I was most excited of the icebergs that my colleagues and I will encounter on my way to Antarctica passing through the stormy Southern Ocean on the R/V Polarstern.

I had felt the same nervous excitement, in August 2004, waiting to board my Lufthansa flight from Delhi that will take to study abroad in for Germany at the Jacobs University Bremen. The anxious tinge on my face and the edgy beating of my heart was not because this would be my first time traveling abroad, but rather I was traveling alone without my family members accompanying me. All the communications with the university was through email. My host family, who I have never had a word before or even know their name or what they look like, would have received me at the airport in Bremen. All the arrangements seem very un-Indian and yet I was excited to experience something new.

As soon as I got my visa and passport checked, passed the airport security protocols of an international traveler, I sat on the airplane wishing myself to sleep to be fresh for all the things to come. I landed in Frankfurt and at once, I noticed the alien weather, odd language, tall, fair and big people, somber food, pink money, green and yellow direction signs and funky electronic billboard advertisements. I decided to explore the airport as I had a few hours before my next flight and got on the sky train. I noticed very soon that the flight gate numbers reached triple figures and it was getting difficult to find my way around. To put it plainly, I got lost.

Fast forward to a frantic run at pace and illegible spurts of huffs of broken German asking for directions, I did manage to board my connecting flight to Bremen, much to the chagrin and amusement of the Lufthansa flight host. As I sat on my seat and broke in to a sigh of relief, little did I know that it was the start of multiple such assays, prepared to test the core of the international student characteristics in me!

I landed at the airport in Bremen, but there was no sign or presence of my host family.

The bag handle broke somewhere midair, I presume for forcefully stuffing 30 kilos of my belongings. The orientation emails from the university were very organized and told me how to reach the university from the airport in such a situation, but being in a foreign land and in that jiffy I was unsure of how to read the metro and train maps to reach Jacobs University Bremen. I made some enquiries but it was too complicated, which I later found out it indeed was! It required me to take 2 metros, a 20-minute train ride, a bus trot and short 10 minute walk.

Instead, I started profiling prospective international students who might have landed at Bremen airport to study at Jacobs, and therefore maybe find a way to hitch a ride with their host family. On my third conversation with strangers, much to my relief, I did find one student from Ghana in Africa, who was heading the same way.

I landed on a Sunday when university officials were mostly away and offices were closed, except for a few student volunteers and the university guards. I was given my room key and the guards showed the direction towards my accommodation. My transponder key read D-211 at the Mercator Building, which I later discovered was recently erected, and was the root cause of further stress for the day. Even with the help of the student volunteer, I could not find Block D in the building. After searching for about an hour in the stinging rain, and coming up trumps with Block A, B, and C the umpteenth time, we decided to go back to the main gate to complain about its inexistence. Luckily, a Masters’ student from China showed us that Block-D is very much an integral part of Mercator; and is the connecting blocks of A, B, and C, (duh!!) and are usually reserved for the Master’s students. I had no complaints, as the room was bigger than the rooms given to Bachelors’ students and was single occupancy.

The next day, during the academic orientation with my academic advisor, I discovered that I was registered for the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Major and not my preferred Earth and Space Sciences. It did not however take long to change my Major and my international student journey was finally underway. Or so it seemed! Whether good or bad, ups or downs, I have never had an uninteresting day in my time as a student globetrotter.

From my orientation week at the Jacobs University until the day in 2010 on the anchorage, it had been a learning experience like never before. I was able to travel to 30+ countries, interact with people from 150+ nationalities, learn a new language, try multiple different cuisines, research about Earth’s past and its climate, explore the cold ocean in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and achieve a UG degree.

Most importantly, I failed multiple times at things that I tried and classes that I took, but I passed even more times.

I also learnt to teach English as TESL / TEFL and learnt how to mix drinks professionally, to earn my pocket money.

I also lied in my CV that I know programming to get that summer job at the university to make ends meet, and crammed learning programming late into the night while I was impersonating an expert programmer during the day at the job.

I took classes in Renaissance Art and Architecture, Victorian Poetry, studied about Biochemical Engineering, Drugs and Naturopathy, Astrobiology, as well as Psychology of our Senses and Perceptions and Decision-Making, along with my core courses in Earth and Space Sciences.

I learnt how to drive a boat, use a crane on a liner and swim with Jellyfishes and Seals without incurring their wrath.

I learnt that during long sea expeditions, you could get fresh food for only about 2 weeks, and live the rest on meat, pasta and cold cuts.

Through my friends from the humanities majors and social outreach work with the UNICEF, I also learnt how the United Nation works and how countries such as Germany and the Scandinavian countries plan their budgeting and investment in education research programs, which the whole world is trying to emulate.

I heard lectures and talks from Nobel Laureates and other famous people and I watched the Champions League and World Cup football games live.

I was also penniless many a times and sometimes survived on eating just rice, onions and tomato puree for whole weeks on end.

I learnt the value of banking and financial security, as much as, the pitfalls of spending too much money through credit cards.

I learnt about student loans and about how to pay them back, slowly but securely.

I learnt that it is important to keep up and find time with your hobbies and passions, whether it is chess, theater or cricket.

I learnt that good research is gold and written communication is diamond.

Even more so, speaking articulately and networking is platinum.

I learnt that human emotions are fickle and true friends are hard to find.

I learnt about various religions and about atheism through the perspective of friends and acquaintances who follow them.

I played cricket with my other South Asian friends, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

I learnt that living away from home for a long period would make you question your own families’ beliefs and culture.

But no matter, how far you are, I also learnt that your family will always remain your biggest and most important support.

I learnt that honesty is strength.

I also achieved an MS degree from the public University of Bremen in Germany, where education was free of cost.

Earlier in 2012, again and for the third time, I was feeling the same nervous excitement, as I stood at the Guwahati airport, having returned from Germany to India for an indefinite period. I was unhappy because the PhD program that I wanted to embark on, did not work out for political reasons, and I sought time in the security of home. The warm and humid breeze, the thundering sky, the smell of the wet earth and the stench of spices and cow-dung brought about an apprehension of whether I will succeed, having come back to Assam after 12 years away. Among all the thoughts running through my head of what the next few months’ sabbatical will bring forth, I was encouraged and comforted by the thought that among all the skills I have learnt in my time away from India, adaptability and flexibility has been the foundation of them all. I was thus prepared to face all challenges head-on through an international perspective.

Eight years have passed since my study abroad in Germany experience, and I have only stopped to reflect on what I should be doing to find solutions to my challenges at hand rather than rummage deeper on my problems. This philosophy has helped me stabilize my journey in exploring my pedigree in education and counseling. In my time as an international student, I have always learnt that today I should be a better version of myself from yesterday. Therefore, one must always think big and create a dream big enough that your community can thank you for it. My dream is to bring such worldly awareness of opportunities through education and counseling to not just the North-East of India but the entire South-Asian region. This steadfast philosophy has catapulted me straight from being a teacher, to a counselor, and now to an Entrepreneur of sorts. I can only thank my international student experience that gave me the belief and foundational support.

Should I have studied abroad in Germany? Unapologetically, a definite Yes!

– @Abhinav B Gogoi

Vice President – Eastern India | Inspirus Education

Email – [email protected]

#StudyAbroad StudyinGermany UGinGermany MSinGermany

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inspiruseducation · 5 years ago

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Covid -19 on International Campus: Student Perspective

We got in touch with some Inspirus alumni across the world to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their academic and career plans. While universities are as helpless as the students are in the face of such a situation, they have been helping out students wherever they can. The transition to teaching online was very smooth for the universities, as expected. They also were very proactive in communicating and enforcing governmental regulations in terms of social distancing, travel and international student visa status, while also providing much-needed psychological support to international students.

Newcastle University, in the UK, is even helping international students financially, according to Riddhi Shah, a current MSc in Foundations of Clinical Psychology student. She had the option to go home but chose to stay in Newcastle. In mainland Europe, Shriya Mahamuni is pursuing an MSc in Human Settlements from KU Leuven in Belgium. Like Riddhi in the UK, she, unfortunately, has to live with the fact that half her degree will be online. Shriya’s program has a major interactive component in terms of group projects, site visits, and guest lectures - all of which are not possible currently.

Across the Atlantic, Chirag Kamble is currently in the 2nd semester of his MS in CS program at Stevens Institute of Technology located in Hoboken, New Jersey - a stone’s throw away from New York City, which has been among the worst-affected cities in the world. He was especially happy with how Stevens made sure that international students did not have to worry about their visa status at all. However, he’s worried about the impact of the pandemic on summer internships. His friends’ internships have been put on hold or canceled, and he is finding it difficult to secure one for himself. Trena Dhingra, who is pursuing her MS in CS at Northeastern University, Boston, decided not to travel to India in spite of having the option to because she was worried about the possibility of facing issues re-entering the US. Her university has given students who are not coping up with the online mode of lectures to be able to choose whether they want the current semester’s classes to be considered towards their degrees even after the final exams.

Pranita Vashisht, an Engineering Management graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, sums up all current MS students’ responses to the big question: is it worth taking a semester online? She says it is better to defer by a semester or even a year to get the actual benefits of on-campus learning. Mahi Juthani, who is pursuing her BS at the University of Texas at Austin, grabbed the opportunity to fly home and pursue the rest of the semester online. However, she misses the interactive aspect of on-campus learning and joins Pranita in recommending deferring by a semester to get the full international education experience - provided the time off is utilized for something productive.

Your circumstances determine whether this is the right time for you to proceed with your international education experience. For undergraduate students, taking 1 of the total 8 semesters online is still fine. However, for postgraduate students, given that they generally finish their Master’s program in 2/3/4 semesters, it is not ideal to take 1 semester online. So now is a good time to ask your university about the deferral process. Until you hear something officially from YOUR university, prepare to enter your program in August. The economy is on a downward trajectory currently so it is actually the best time to increase your qualifications - that’s what a huge number of people did in the Great Recession of the late 2000s. Even the worst-case projections currently do not expect this situation to continue beyond 2020. You will hence be entering the job market when the economy has healed, with a great chance of landing the high-paying jobs that you aspire.

As always, your mentors and counselors at Inspirus are just a phone call away in case you have any further questions. We hope you and your family around the world stay safe during these testing times.

Team Inspirus

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inspiruseducation · 5 years ago

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COVID-19 UPDATE – UNIVERSITY VISA STATUS

During these difficult times, we’re experiencing a lot of misinformation floating across the internet in relation to visa regulations for international students. Authenticating the source of information has become paramount. Hence, Inspirus Education has taken up the onus to research, connect with the right collaborators to sort the information and create information checklists as per queries that we are encountering the most.

As it stands now, almost all universities have restricted entry into their campuses and are conducting classes online. Therefore, the best way forward for unhindered university education is to keep the relevant authority, say the International Student Office at your university, updated in terms of any further changes to your plans as procedures vary both the university- and country-wise. Whether you are back home in India or still at your university location, we hope that you are safe and sound at your relatives, friends, or university-arranged accommodations, and are diligently continuing with your online classes and practical training work, as instructed by your university.

Across the world, currently-enrolled students are permitted to take online classes with no effect on their full-time academic visa status. This has been approved across the board by policymakers at universities, visa authorities and education ministries in multiple countries such as the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, et al on a special, temporary basis due to the Covid-19 public health emergency. This means that you can study full-time online and it will not affect your student visa status when the situation returns to normalcy. Your degree will still hold the same value to employers and visa authorities.

It is also important to keep a check that your passport and visa stamp will be valid at the time of your expected date of return to the university campus. The expected date of return as announced for most universities across the world is at the start of the next term.

Please remember that this is an evolving situation that is subject to change. We highly recommend you review current global public health advisories and keep track of any travel restrictions in place. Please also consider your ability to access online learning and travel limitations for the next academic term as well.

Inspirus Education would like to extend our services for any support that students or their parents may require in stabilising the situation for smooth functioning in the future. Please do connect with us for any help required.

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inspiruseducation · 5 years ago

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COVID-19 AND YOUR STUDY-ABROAD PLANS

Dear students,

We are living in modern history.

As of March 20, 2020, 159 countries in the world have reported Covid-19 cases. Naturally, our eyes are peeled on 2 of them – our home country, and the country where we are planning to go study in the latter half of this year. While we were thinking about spending this time of the year choosing between admits, we have to add one more huge parameter in the fray – will I be going at all? As we field questions from our students about what to do at such a crucial time, we feel it is our responsibility to cater to the wider student population and point out some factors that you need to consider, and resources that can help you keep updated about your specific situation.

You already know that international students pay higher fees compared to in-state ones. The sheer amount of money that universities will lose out on if international students are not catered to is huge. This article from CNBC estimates that figure to be a whopping $41 billion. If you have not already received any communication from your university, just Google “University name Covid-19” to get their position on the situation, or better still, email your program director for the same.

Firstly, you have to understand that your admission offers still stand. Your hard work has paid off, and you are a part of their university system. As part of their culture, once you’re in, you’re one of their own. They will do their utmost to cater to your needs and convenience. Usually, universities allow students to defer their admissions by up to a year by just writing a simple email or filling out a small form. In such a situation, they will stick to those rules, and give you the option to either start online as planned in the Fall, or defer your admit by a semester or two and start an on-campus program in Spring or Fall 2021.

Personally, we feel that if you have the luxury of time and can wait another six months or a year before you start your program, you should wait. Your study abroad experience isn’t just a list of courses that you have to do, it is that plus in-person interactions with the faculty, researchers, and peers, along with projects, practical sessions, and research. This is the beginning of your journey into the real world – living and cooking on your own, making sure you’re paying your bills on time, plus a host of other life experiences that you will not get staying in your home country. If your program is only one year long, we strongly suggest you defer your admission. No doubt you will save living expenses, but you will lose out on life-lessons far more important than the cost of living that you had already budgeted for. However, if you decide to still go ahead with the online semester option, the value of your degree, the length of your OPT and your standing as a student will remain unaffected.

Rest assured, universities and embassies will do everything possible to open new avenues and modify existing ones to make sure you, their most important resource, are taken care of. At Inspirus, we assure you of our continued commitment to getting any questions that may arise answered as quickly and correctly as possible.

— Team Inspirus

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