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By Rojani Kandel

In today’s era, it has become a popular trend among Nepali youngsters to go to foreign countries for their further studies. In general, the process of studying abroad is commenced by youth, as soon as they pass their plus two grade and are ready to join the bachelors level course. There are a lot of countries where Nepali students apply for their studies and among them, the most popular countries are: Firstly the USA, then Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries simultaneously. The number of Nepali students studying abroad is increasing every year, for example, research shows that in 2021, 50,000 Nepali students were relocated to study in Australia.

These students go abroad to study by looking at the brighter sides like having an international degree, a better career in future, getting highly recognized person in the circle of their family and friends and so on. However, as it’s been said, “Every opportunity comes with a huge number of challenges”, abroad study not only has merits but it also carries many challenges with itself. The challenges faced by Nepali students, while studying abroad are given below:

Language barrier:

This is the challenge faced by Nepali students studying abroad which is really tough when it comes to meeting the international standard of language skills, be it Hindi, English or any other non-native language.

Cultural shock:

At the beginning time of studying abroad, Nepali students will have a high chance of getting cultural shock as there will be totally different cultures in abroad countries in comparison to the culture here at Nepal.

Affordability:

The cost for abroad study is far higher than the cost in the colleges of Nepal. Although students can relieve some of this money pressure by working part-time, money can still be a challenge.

Homesickness:

Being far from family, friends and relatives can be much more challenging for Nepali students during their period of studying abroad; which might lead in rare cases to commit suicide too.

Discrimination and Racism:

This is one of the hardest challenges faced by Nepali students studying abroad which can or might lead to the occurrence of various health hazards in Nepali students studying abroad.

Those challenges can be furthermore mentioned as a national level challenge, such as brain drain, loss of cultural identity and also lack of skilled workforce. Similarly, our country Nepal is losing its best and brightest to foreign countries resulting in a shortage of skilled workers and a need for more potential leaders and innovators; which might can hamper on Nepal’s economic growth and development. Also, talking about Nepali culture, it’s likely to get diluted or lost altogether as more young people leave the country.

In conclusion; it can be said that even though there are lots of benefits to studying abroad, still many challenges also in various levels mentioned above. However, students can deal with these challenges with courage, expert guidance, support, preparation and awareness. Likewise, the Nepal government also needs to bring such plans and policies and also establish such educational system in Nepal, from which the youths of Nepal are motivated to study inside Nepal instead of studying in abroad.