Students all around the world spend hours on the internet searching for the best universities. The rise in the search for universities is fueled by the number of students who want to enroll into online courses instead of becoming regular day scholars.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) revealed a list of most popular searches related to universities, which is full of Indian Universities. The list is unique in a way and quite surprising because it doesn’t have highest ranking universities such as Harvard and Cambridge at the top.
Internet has become the premiere channel for universities to reach out to interested students. Gone are the days when universities depended on hard-copy prospectus, which could only be acquired by visiting the university. Now, with the internet, universities can reach a wider range of target audience by positing the necessary information on their websites. This worked out great for the students; especially those who want to attend foreign universities.
Statistics show that until 2011, the most searched universities were the usual big shots i.e. MIT, Oxford, Harvard etc. But the introduction of online courses in the recent years has made Coursera – a UK based provider of online courses – one of the most popular searches.
The University of Phoenix, which has a controversial in-take record, is ranked first in this newly unveiled Google’s list of top searched universities. The second is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, because it too has posted free syllabus for anyone to see and download. It’s basically free education for all the education enthusiasts who would want to study the curriculum of MIT but for some reason can’t get in.
Universities are becoming more and more aware of using the internet to market themselves to parents, alumni etc. However this method also has its drawback; in lesser developed countries or for that matter in lesser developed areas where people don’t have access to the internet may remain deprived of getting the necessary information.
But in many countries the internet approach has provided the students with opportunities to find out about courses that are not being offered in their own country. A student sitting in Asia can easily have access to all the information related to American universities without spending a single penny.
The fact that students are becoming more interested in online courses has also added a few unexpected names to Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) latest list. This interest is evident through the fact that provider of online teaching courses and material, the Khan Academy, has triggered more online search activity as compared to Cambridge University. Seeing this shift in trend, the bigger names in this sector must consider a few changes to their educational system as well.
Moreover there are also 5 universities from the UK on this list. The main reason is that a huge student population from Western Europe and Asia Pacific is interested in UK universities.
The list also includes many Indian institutions, which shows the progress educational sector is making in India. Quality education coupled with lower fees rates has made Indian universities a fine prospect for students from India’s neighboring countries.