The global higher education segment has taken a massive hit owing to the current Covid19 scenario and this has adversely affected both educational institutions and aspiring students who were planning to pursue their higher education abroad. Vast numbers of Indian students have chosen to go abroad to do their higher education but with the spread of the coronavirus and the subsequent travel restrictions issued by different countries, students have started to look at alternate options. With that being the case, lets’ look at some of the best alternate options available for students who had to cancel their higher education plans due to the current scenario.

• Learning Online: This might not seem like a glamorous option but this might be as close as it gets to learn from a foreign institute for many students owing to the covid19 pandemic. Many educational institutions across the globe have started to acknowledge the importance of online education and have designed and developed custom online programs that students across the globe can enrol in to continue their education. While students will still miss out on the campus life and international exposure in an online program, cheaper course fees and the opportunity to get certified by international educational institutions within the comfort of your home makes online education a serious option to think about.
   
• Looking for Options within the Country: This is the most popular and practical option that most students go for in the current circumstances. Many Indian educational institutions offer the same programs as its foreign counterparts at a much affordable rate and some of these institutions can compete with the best international educational institutions when it comes to the quality of education imparted. Choosing this option might take away from your opportunity to study abroad but you can still get an opportunity to experience the colourful student life offered by Indian educational institutions. Recently, many Indian institutions have started partnering with foreign universities and colleges and signed MOUs with them. This allows the students to have the opportunity to go abroad to do a part of their education and get taught by foreign teachers while at the same time get exposed to international education.
   
• Taking up Short Term Courses: Some students might even consider just waiting for another year to continue with their higher education abroad. While it may seem as an easy option to take a break for a year, there are still some viable options that you could opt for to make the best use of this free time. There are a plethora of short-term diploma courses that one could do online in various subjects and topics. Doing an online diploma program will not only help you to learn more and add another certificate to your resume but it will also help you to stay engaged and freshen up your ideas and thoughts. With the course fees being cheap, and the ease in which the education is imparted and made accessible to the students, these short-term courses will help you to learn new things during this covid19 situation and pave way for a smoother transition into your higher studies.
   
• Going Forward with the Application Process: Still, if you want to pursue higher education abroad without leaving a gap year, then the only possible option is to continue with your college application process and with most universities pushing their re-opening date, there is still hope for many students to stick to their original plan. Contact your preferred educational institutions and get information regarding the changes in the academic schedule and their plans to accommodate the requirements of international students if the current scenario pertains.

We are all going through a strange phase now and no one could really predict when things will get back to normal. This remains true for the international higher education segment too and students should also look at all the available options before picking one so that you make the best out of the current scenario.