The recent case of Tri-Valley University is about more than just a sham school and US visa fraud, reports Delhi-based writer Neeta Lal.
Hundreds of Indian students, mostly from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of being unceremoniously deported from the United States after federal authorities last month shut down the ‘sham’ Tri-Valley University (TVU) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The university, which had charged its mostly Indian student intake thousands of dollars in fees, has been accused of fraud, misusing visa permits, money laundering and helping foreign nationals illegally acquire immigration status.
An investigation by the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency reportedly found that while the students had been admitted to various residential and online courses at the university—and, on paper at least, lived in California—they were actually working illegally around the country.
The case has sparked something of a panic among the Indian student community in the United States. Internet forums have been abuzz with students debating the problems with TVU, warning prospective students in India that the place is nothing more than a scam with its promises of allowing students to work from day one, requiring no credit, no attendance, no tests and charging just $2,500 per semester.
To compound the unease, many of TVU’s students have now reportedly been fitted with GPS radio tags around their ankles, something that federal authorities say is merely being done to help the system keep track of them.
Unsurprisingly, though, such moves haven’t gone down well with Indians, who note that radio tagging is usually reserved for convicted criminals.
‘How can you treat the poor students like this?’ asks Hyderabad-based VS Kutty, whose nephew enrolled at the university last year. ‘Many of them used their parents’ life savings for their education plans. Instead of blaming us, shouldn’t our government be ensuring that fraudulent institutions don’t hoodwink us?’
Faced with such sentiments, New Delhi has tried to deflect criticism toward US authorities over the tagging of the students. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, for example, was quick to declare that Indian students aren’t criminals, and demanded that the tags be removed.
The reality, though, is that the problem extends far beyond this one case. Over the past decade at least, questionable institutions such as TVU have been proliferating to cater to the growth in students from India. TVU is simply the most extreme example so far of the exploitation of gullible students and parents in the education market—and of the lack of adequate systems in place to stop it from happening.
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Truth it be
Alright, lets say they are not criminals, we agree correct?
Then did they not know by working in shops off the books with cash
payments were not criminal? Who were the ones who hired them?
Why of course the Indian Community stood to gain from less than the hourly wages.
Will you at least agree many came here to get jobs to work for either their
education or send money home? You see this all the time. Most are underpaid
cash. The Indian government should warn the students that working for
Indians in the USA may be illegal, and they will be considered chattel
How is it some of these wound up thousands of miles away in the mid west and
the East coast state of Virginia?
So the debate is you get the ankle bracelet because you are being monitored
Frank
Indian students “have been fitted with GPS radio tags around their ankles.”
Americans treat Indians like dogs with invisible leashes.
Pratik Jhaveri
I totally agree with MR. Bhambri, Indian Education system needs to focus on practical and social training. I was born in India and studied there from Grade school till my first year of college. I am very familiar with the Indian Education System. In my Experience I have observed that the system only focuses on memorization of the textual content without understanding them. In order to improve our education system I feel we should let go of the age old system which was introduced to us by the British Government. I personally feel that was my main reason to take the first chance that I got to leave the country and study in the USA. Take a moment and think Why is an overseas education more valuble than our own, even though Indian students are considered to be the smarter. I think its because our education system lacks the social and practical aspects of training. Everybody knows that studying and working in the same field of study are two completely different things. I think Indian education system is failing to address this particular situation all together and focusing on who can memorize the content and vomit it out in the examination with extreme precision. Now if you compare the undergrad education of US and India, why is US education more valuble? Its because the Employers knows that when an Indian student comes out of the college with his undergrad degree he is limited to book knowledge and lacks practical knowledge in addition to this an Indian student is trained not to think outside the box and stick to the textbook whereas an US education system teaches students to think outside the box.
Indian Education system teaches students to follow rather than lead. Why in spite of having the most number of smartest people, India is still struggling and considered to be a developing country. I think its because we have stuck to an education system designed by the british kingdom to teach slaves.( And what do slaves do- they follow).
I think its High time for the Indian government to focus there attention on the future of the children and their education system rather than focusing on why students prefer to go overseas to study.
If we are able to fix this education system and show that our education is far more valuble than students will definitely prefer to stay and study in India. No body wants to spend more money than required to obtain the same degree.