With more and more Nepali students fancying to pursue higher education abroad, educational consultancies have emerged as one of the most lucrative businesses in the country. In the

capital alone, there are over 400 educational consultancies that sell dreams of a better future for students. While some of those that come to these consultancies for assistance are students with genuine academic interest, many of them, however, would like to overstay in foreign countries once they land there as students. Blame it on the lack of opportunities back home, but the search for greener pastures lures thousands of Nepali students to these consultancies annually.

Though these consultancies are the only places for students to turn to for academic counselling, students, apart from having to pay a hefty price, usually also become the victims of wrong advice, thus inviting trouble. It is also not uncommon for these counsellers to make false claims, for instance, offering free tickets, waiver on visa fees, counterfeit certificates and bank balance statements. Absence of government regulations has given these consultancies the ultimate authority, no matter how fraudulent their transactions may be, to attract more and more students. While the students need to be wary of their false promises, the government needs to formulate strict regulations so that only genuine consultancies thrive and students are not taken for a ride.