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India 2nd after US in education-related online queries: Google study

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India is second only to the US  in education-related online queries, a jump from the eighth place the country held in 2008, a Google study has revealed.

The study titled 'Students on the Web' also noted that over 60 per cent Indian students with access to Internet use the medium as their first source to research for information related to courses and institutes.

Education related queries on Google are growing at over 46 per cent year on year, highlighting a strong demand for information on institutes and courses that are available in the country. Out of all education related search queries on Google, over 40 per cent was related to higher education.

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IIMs in Ahmedabad and Bangalore figured in the list of most searched IIMs, while Delhi and Chennai IITs were the most searched IITs, according to the study. In the list of the most-searched private educational institutes, Sikkim Manipal and Amity universities came on top.

The Google research also said search queries from mobile phones have grown considerably, showing a growth of over 135 per cent year-over-year and amounting to over 22 per cent of all education-related queries.

In terms of types of courses being searched on Google, IT/Vocational courses were the most searched courses with 44 per cent, followed by engineering courses (40 per cent), and postgraduate courses with MBA (16 per cent).

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Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director of Google India, said, "With over 60 million Internet population in India being in age group of 18-35, educational-related search queries are exploding on Google. Our core objective behind compiling this study was to understand the impact Internet is having on this young population with regard to education-related decision making by the students.

In terms of wish list, students highlighted the need for educational institutes to have more mobile-friendly websites as over 66 per cent said they use their handsets to access content. Video content also rated high with the students. Highlighting the need to have more video content on institution websites and other platforms, 46 per cent of respondents said they choose to watch videos as part of their research.

In terms of type of video content, students also wanted to watch videos on career options/placements (56 per cent), faculty (44 per cent), videos of existing students and alumni (29 per cent) and videos of classroom sessions (27 per cent) to help them take more informed decisions.

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The study was done by combining insights from Google search internal tool between January 2011 and June 2012 and an offline research conducted by TNS Australia in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)


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