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One in three students fails their first term in an overseas university due to the change in academic and cultural environment. International study is a considerable financial investment, so students, parents and teaching staff naturally want it to be successful. The WorldGrad aims to maximise students’ chances by offering programmes that allow them to study up to one year of their overseas degree in their home country before progressing to on-campus studies for the remainder of the course.
“We ensure they are able to succeed academically but also overcome any logistical barriers,” explains Pranav Saxena, co-founder of The WorldGrad. “It brings down the cost of study as well, and we aim to support students who are academically qualified but not financially able.” Students can save an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of the overall cost of their studies because they do not have to shoulder living expenses for that first semester or year, and some are even able to secure scholarships because they can show proven results from their first modules.
Most students are currently from the Indian subcontinent, pursuing degrees from partner universities in the UK, Australia and the US, Saxena adds. Students on the US programme, for example, can finish the first year of their bachelor’s degree from home in just 10 months, saving time and money before they move to the US.
Courses are delivered just as they would be on campus, and led by international academics from the country in which students intend to study. “Whatever we teach, however we assess, even the exam papers will be the same,” says Vartikka Kaul, academic director at the WorldGrad. This means the academics understand the education system and have taught the subject in the setting the student will experience. “The first semester involves a lot of adjustment for the student. They’re getting used to an international learning system, getting to grips with language barriers and accents, so we support that mental peace as well as the logistical issues,” Kaul says.
The WorldGrad’s online platform is fully interactive, and there is an India-based facilitator so students can access one-to-one support. “It’s important there’s a teacher available in the same time zone as the students, and we answer 99 per cent of queries within an hour,” Kaul says.
Another advantage of The WorldGrad’s programme is flexibility; there are roughly five intakes per year as opposed to a single intake at the start of each academic year. This gives students the opportunity to organise their visa paperwork and build their language skills, Saxena says. “Students need written skills and find that they pick these up as part of their online studies because they’re being taught in English and writing essays as part of that process,” he says.
Rahul, a student who has experienced the US accelerated programme, says he has been given help “in every step and in any problems we face”, adding that receiving guidance in his studies has led to quick results. For some students, an additional bonus is they are able to demonstrate to the relevant authorities that they are serious about overseas study, strengthening their case for a visa.
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