College life outside the United States can be very different. As the cost of higher education in the States mounts, increasing numbers of high school students are looking at an overseas education as an option. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK are all popular, cost-effective choices for students who don’t mind living far away from home.

But applying to college in other countries is nothing like applying to college in the USA. There are huge differences in the education systems of other countries. How different? Consider India…

College admissions in India

Because of the country’s huge population, young Indians experience intense competition to gain admittance to University. For example, the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (think MIT) admit 5,500 students each year to seven campus’s out of an applicant pool of…600,000! Those students with the highest scores in the entrance exam are admitted. Once admitted, the cost of tuition and accommodation is around $1,200 a year.

To help ease the stress for college applicants and provide access to information, one of India’s biggest telephone companies, Reliance Communications has launched an educational portal on mobile phones, offering services such as exam results, a calendar of exams, admission deadlines, mock tests etc. It’s reported that subscribers will also be able to see listings of top universities and career options on their cell phones.

The service will cost one rupee (under 2 cents) per minute and shows how, in countries where the cost of a PC and the internet is still beyond the reach of millions, critical services can be provided at a low cost over cell phones. It’s a great example of how everything is becoming an electronic service.