10 Important suggestions before moving to FRANCE

[De_ep]

1) Do not get flown with what the website says or what Dean of the Institute says to you. Try to ask about the desired school from Guest faculties (If necessary)

2) See the Alumni condition thoroughly. In some schools, there is a severe dispute between Alumni and School Authorities, however it is always mentioned that Alumni comprises of some great people in the world.

3) Ask questions to any Indian Alumnus (If any) before deciding to move abroad. Do not believe what other nationalities say about the program. Students from other nationalities like Japan, South Korea, and France may join your aspiring Institute due to job cutting in their previous companies or due to some other reasons in their countries.

4) Don’t get flown with the idea that you will get a job after completion of your MBA. Other nationalities especially EU / US / Japanese / South Koreans do not require work visa to work there, however Indians require. No matter how good are you, it is very difficult for Indians to find a job abroad. No company is ready to easily file application for work permit. It is a long process for them, so they try to avoid.

5) See the average time to get a job for an Asian alumnus especially Indians.

6) Check the curriculum thoroughly, now days there are some companies who sponsor two months consulting project. School will always try to cash on this opportunity. They know students always get attracted with this marketing gimmick. Try to establish how many companies come to sponsor the project; you will be amazed to see the number not more than 2 or 3. Companies, which are partnered with those Institutes and have corporate responsibilities come to sponsor these projects, so try not to get caught in this stint.

7) Try to visit your aspiring university before actually getting into it. If it is not in your budget, see some virtual clippings or an advertisement of what is there in that school. Try to contact some cultural travel companies like LADP Limited, a UK based company (www.myladp.info) to understand how it sounds studying abroad in that institute.

Do not choose popular Technical Institutes as a preference for pursuing MBA e.g. in France GRAND ECOLES are not meant for management students. They are famous for Engineering and Technical orientations. These institutes don’t have a placement / career centre and if they have, they do not have contacts for MBA's to get some jobs / internships.

9) Do not presume that studying abroad can make you a Global student and you will be exposed globally. At the moment, India is the most happening place in the world and students across the world aspire to come to India to become a part of this developing era.

10) Last but not the least, if you had blocked some amount in your application or in first installment and after that you realize that you got caught in their stint, ask the Institute for refund. Some times, it is better to loose something rather than loose every thing.

Being Indian students, we always follow the trend of getting attracted by foreign Institutes, however we have to realize that at this moment India is the most happening place in the world and professionals across the world aspire to come to India. India is one of the most developing countries in the world and income level of Indians is increasing every year. The whole world looks India as the most important market to capture and therefore we see huge investments here. The education system in India is far better then in any other country and therefore multinationals prefer to have Indian grads on European or US graduates. Studying abroad is not as cool as it looks, it may not give you the platform to fly, so it is better to be cautious.

[Notmykind]

Good Suggestions. Many firang institutes publish glossy brochures to attract the greedy students. Any whats yours stats and experience De_ep. How you arrived at stated conclusions and premises.

[shubhankar85]

I am not sure why or how u managed/chose to

• First of all, start off with a set of cautionary notes for students moving to "France" & then...talk about a set of guidelines which (in my opinion) apply everywhere across all the Business schools of the world(except for the part about Grand Ecoles)...
• Talk about good business schools being difficult to choose/decide only abroad...It applies everywhere if you ask me & the west isnt much worse off than India in that regard (except that u lose more money in case u end up with a bad deal ) ....For every IIM that we have, there are also a great deal of C-grade instis which do nothing more than ask u to pay u bigtime for no returns to utilize when u finally complete ur MBA...& for every unworthy B-school in France, there of course are the likes of INSEAD

Nevertheless...nice set of guidelines, although you shouldn't (in my opinion) generalize everything...

[Peruvianguru]

Originally Posted by De_ep

The education system in India is far better then in any other country and therefore multinationals prefer to have Indian grads on European or US graduates.

Nice set of suggestions. However, to claim that India has the best educational system in the world is far from being true. India has a large number of excellent educational institutions (ISB, IIT, IIM, etc) and professionals but it also has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the planet. And this, my friend, is a fact. Indians should feel proud about the greatness of their country; multicultural, colourfull, progressive and the list of pros goes on. But they should avoid falling in chauvinism, it doesnt help in maintaining a clear and objective view of your strenghts and weaknesses. With 1.1 billion people, labour costs are cheaper and many extremely qualified and smart Indian bhai are willing to work for less money than its US, European and even Latin American counterparts. This is also another fact.

I appreciate your time and effort in posting your advise to all of us. It is crystal clear that your experience hasnt been as positive as you expected. However, for the sake of being objective and useful, avoid posting generalized views and false statements which biase your good intentions. Best of luck

PeruvianGuru

[De_ep]

Originally Posted by Peruvianguru

Nice set of suggestions. However, to claim that India has the best educational system in the world is far from being true. India has a large number of excellent educational institutions (ISB, IIT, IIM, etc) and professionals but it also has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the planet. And this, my friend, is a fact. Indians should feel proud about the greatness of their country; multicultural, colourfull, progressive and the list of pros goes on. But they should avoid falling in chauvinism, it doesnt help in maintaining a clear and objective view of your strenghts and weaknesses. With 1.1 billion people, labour costs are cheaper and many extremely qualified and smart Indian bhai are willing to work for less money than its US, European and even Latin American counterparts. This is also another fact.

I appreciate your time and effort in posting your advise to all of us. It is crystal clear that your experience hasnt been as positive as you expected. However, for the sake of being objective and useful, avoid posting generalized views and false statements which biase your good intentions. Best of luck

PeruvianGuru

These suggestions may sound generalized however they are not naive, this is what I experienced in my last 10 months. In no way, I am discouraging anyone to pursue studies abroad specially in France. There is no doubt that INSEAD, HEC, IMD, LBS, etc. are world class and great Institutes and I am not denying the fact. All what I am trying to suggest is that at this moment when India is developing more than any other country, we have to be very cautious in deciding on our future.

My experience in MBA was positive, however my landing after my MBA was combined with a lot of struggle and I do not regret on that. I learned a lot during all those 10 months and managed to achieve what I wanted to achieve. I always want to fly better and higher than anyone else and that is why I decided to move out after a successful experience of eight years in various Multinationals. In any case, we should not forget that LANDING is more important than TAKE OFF and if good foreign schools are not giving platform to land, we should either go for a GREAT INSTITUTE abroad or a good Institute in India only.

Indian Education system is becoming more liberal day by day and our system has more practical sustainability than any other system. See the average type of Faculty in these so called GOOD Institutes abroad and compare it with some cool faculties of Indian Institutes, you will find Indian system better. They only cash on Guest faculties and now Indian Institutes are also trying to capture the same.

I do understand that JOURNEY IS IMPORTANT THAN DESTINATION, however if destination is clear, journey become much better.

Anyways, thanks for the comments and your thoughts. Best of Luck.

[Peruvianguru]

Originally Posted by De_ep

These suggestions may sound generalized however they are not naive, this is what I experienced in my last 10 months. In no way, I am discouraging anyone to pursue studies abroad specially in France.

Fair enough mate. Best of luck in the future!

Peruvian