PESHAWAR, June 21: Speakers at a seminar have urged students to choose the correct course for study in a foreign university so that they could avoid problems regarding finding a suitable job. “A large number of Pakistani students go abroad every year seeking admission to different courses in colleges and universities of the UK, US, Canada, Poland, Australia, Ireland etc., but when they reach there they start looking for a job to meet their expenses and after some time they give up their studies to do full-time jobs,” said Shah Nawaz Khattak, executive admission officer of the Oepl (Overseas Education Promotional Liasion).

He was speaking at a one-day seminar organized by Oepl Consultants here on Tuesday to provide guidance to the students who want to study abroad.

According to him, there was no ban on working of college or university students but he stressed that students should first concentrate on their studies and could do part-time jobs in their spare time.

“Students, however, should make sure that the institution which they seek admission to is recognized by the British government. In this way, they could avoid embarrassment at a later stage as well as loss of the hard-earned money of their parents,” Mr Khattak added.

He said that Indian students were extremely committed to their studies and most of them were able to get job permits which allowed them to continue their studies along with earning a sizable amount. Likewise, students from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had also outperformed Pakistani students as far as their academic performance was concerned, he stated.

There was no difficulty in getting information from the respective embassies of the foreign countries about the status of any educational institution in countries where students intended to go, he said.

Hafiz Abid Hussain, an expert, also expressed concern over the low number of girl students applying for admission to professional institutions in foreign countries while the number of their counterparts from other South Asian countries was much higher.

“It’s time for girls to come forward and seek higher education from prestigious universities abroad. This would not only help them earn more but the country will also benefit from their experience,” he added.

However, he said, some of the deserving students faced hardships in admission because of their lack of knowledge about the prevailing circumstances.

About the selection of courses to be taken up by students in foreign institutions, he said it depended on their market scope. For instance, he said, a few years back most of the students opted for diplomas and degrees in business administration, but now information technology was on top because of its demand in the market.

In his speech, he asked the students to select good subjects at the intermediate and bachelor’s level so that they could get admission to degree programmes in UK-based institutions without any problem.

He said it was the responsibility of teachers to guide their students about the selection of subjects which were recommended for graduate and postgraduate studies.

He was of the view that sending of students to foreign countries for higher education had become a booming business, which allowed many firms to fleece students with both hands.

He urged the students to obtain complete information about any institution before depositing fees.

He said that the number of Asian students was growing in the UK and they constituted about 10 per cent of overseas students there. The Indians, he said, were not only intelligent among their Asian counterparts, but their combination of courses at the intermediate and graduate level also helped them a great deal in accomplishing studies at the higher level successfully.

Several students were awarded admission on the spot in different courses.