New York, NY: The GOPIO-Manhattan (NYC) in cooperation with Consulate General of India in New York organized ‘Meet & Greet’ event for students from India studying in the North East to connect them to the community and provide mentoring opportunities as well as to raise awareness of Consular services for students.
Students from 21 universities, mostly from the North East participated in person or virtually.
Consul General Randhir Kumar Jaiswal welcomed the students and highlighted the goal to expand this program to include more students, from the pool of 200,000 students that come to the USA for further studies, to attend in person more interactive sessions and gain exposure to various services offered by the Consulate for the benefit of the students from registration at the Consular Portal, to cultural events to mental health support initiatives.
Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, via a video message said, “Indian Students continue to be a strong bridge between India and USA. Delighted to welcome the students virtually! The education and knowledge partnership are an area that holds great potential in our bilateral relations. During my visits across US, I’ve always made it a point to visit universities and visit faculty and students there.” He further added “We have an active student hub and a dedicated student wing at the Embassy. You can count on them for any assistance.”
GOPIO International Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, who also serves as an advisor to GOPIO-Manhattan encouraged the speakers to mentor, motivate and guide the students.
Dr. Abraham said, “In the 1960s and ‘70s when a foreign student joined a university, he/she was given host family, now with connectivity and social media, the host family concept is passe instead the 4.5 million Indian Americans could serve as the host family to the new students.”
Various panellists gave insights on topics such as current market environment, changing work patterns, employment requirements, mastery over technology component, importance of emotional intelligence, different work cultures, importance of OPTs, path from F1 to H1B and Greencard via OPTs, etc.
Consul General Randhir Jaiswal highlighting Consular services provided to students
Consul General Randhir Jaiswal highlighting Consular services provided to students
