Say situation is not so bad and add that the fee they have paid for various courses is not refundable
Say situation is not so bad and add that the fee they have paid for various courses is not refundable
Twenty-three people have died of swine flu in Pune so far. The number of foreign students who have applied for entry and residence in the city at the Foreign Registration office has however remained unchanged.
Sixty to 70 applicants continue to approach the Foreign Registration Office (FRO) every day, as they did before the swine flu pandemic broke out.
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Global Appeal: The Symbiosis Vishwa Bhavan attracts hundreds of students from the world over every year. |
Kian, a student from Iran arrived in Pune last week to pursue a six-month course in English at Symbiosis.
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Kian paid 1,000 dollars in advance as fees, which, he admitted, is not refundable.
"I don't find the situation in Pune scary," said Kian.
'Not serious'Farzad Jafari, another student from Iran, who graduated in IT from Symbiosis was at the FRO for a visa extension. "Returning to Iran is expensive and the situation is not at all that serious," he said.
Assistant Police Inspector Sunil Shete confirmed there has been no change in the inflow of foreign students to the city.
"The number of foreign students registered at the FRO stands at 4,800. The inflow of foreign students start in July and continues till December.
Students continue to come in large numbers despite the swine flu scare in the city," he said.
Stella Ekwal from Nigeria, who is here for her mother's treatment, explained, "The percentage of European and American students in the city is negligible compared to other countries.
Iranians constitute a majority, followed by students from Afghanistan, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan, Thailand and Korea."
