Of the 1.882 million Indian college students finding out overseas, over 1.254 million are pursuing increased training at worldwide universities and tertiary establishments, whereas 628,305 are enrolled on the faculty stage.
Whereas total 2025 numbers hit an all-time excessive as a result of inclusion of school-level college students, increased training enrolments fell by 76,000 this yr, ending a three-year surge. Over 750,000 Indian college students studied at worldwide universities in 2022, rising to 930,000 in 2023 and peaking at 1.33 million in 2024.
Regardless of Canada’s clampdown on worldwide college students, with 74% of Indian examine allow purposes rejected in August 2025, up from 32% in the identical month in 2023, the North American nation nonetheless hosts the biggest variety of Indian college students in universities and tertiary establishments globally, at 427,085 college students.
Within the US, regardless of a 44% drop in examine visas for Indian college students in August 2025 in comparison with final yr, India stays the biggest source country, accounting for over 31% of all worldwide college students, with over 255,000 Indian college students, in keeping with MEA information.
MEA information additionally confirmed that the variety of Indian increased training college students in key international locations, as of 2025: the UK (173,190), Australia (138,579), Germany (59,000), Russia (27,000), Kyrgyzstan (16,500), and Georgia (16,000).
Coverage modifications in main examine locations are impacting Indian college students’ choices. Whereas Canada plans to chop worldwide examine permits by over 50% in 2026, the US continues a hostile stance towards worldwide college students with 9 in 10 college students fearing for his or her visas, and postgraduate enrolments are falling throughout UK universities, with English establishments dealing with a possible losses underneath the brand new £925-per-international scholar levy.
Different locations present combined developments: Australia has seen an increase in Indian college students however stays cautious about fraud and agent misuse, with the latest training reforms invoice aiming to handle these issues, whereas New Zealand has recorded growing variety of examine visa purposes from India as of October 2025.
“The expansion in mobility patterns within the years following the pandemic have been pushed by the pent-up demand and welcoming post-graduation work and immigration pathways and insurance policies in locations resembling Canada,” Rahul Choudaha, professor and COO on the University of Aberdeen, Mumbai campus instructed The PIE Information.
“Nonetheless, in 2025, the immigration insurance policies grew to become restrictive in all key locations beginning with the US.”
The decline in Indian college students pursuing increased training overseas additionally follows a pointy fall in examine overseas remittances from India between April and August 2025, lowest in eight years, the height interval for such transfers.
Furthermore, in keeping with a latest analysis highlighted by Choudaha, the annual value of finding out within the US has risen by Rs 10 lakh (GDP £8,200-£8,300) for Indian college students over the previous 5 years, with foreign money devaluation and tuition hikes pushing the general value of finding out overseas up 10–12% in 2025.
Larger funding outlay together with dimmer possibilities of recovering that funding has made Indian college students nervous and cautious about finding out overseas in 2025
Rahul Choudaha, College of Aberdeen Mumbai campus
“Larger funding outlay together with dimmer possibilities of recovering that funding has made Indian college students nervous and cautious about finding out overseas in 2025,” said Choudaha.
“Universities additionally have to do extra when it comes to offering profession success and scholarships to college students to make ease the barrier of upfront prices and its restoration by means of employability.”
The rise of locations resembling Germany, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia indicators a shift in the direction of lower-cost, high quality STEM and medical training past the “large 4”, together with Indian non-public and public universities that are serving over 46.5 million increased training college students as of 2025.
“Indian universities are extra energetic than ever earlier than in stepping up their recruitment efforts from the house market,” said Jasminder Khanna, co-founder, Gresham Global.
“Be it recruitments gala’s, conferences and even retreats for native feeders, distinguished Indian universities are fairly at par with the international universities in upping their visibility.”
With department campuses of over 15 worldwide universities, primarily from the US and UK, anticipated to open in India by the top of 2026, and the system projected to serve over 560,000 Indian college students by 2040, Choudaha sees the subsequent three years as essential for these campuses in absorbing inbound demand amid more and more restrictive insurance policies.
“The aspirations to realize international studying stay sturdy whereas affordability has change into a giant problem,” said Choudaha.
“With over fifteen campuses providing levels in fall 2026 consumption implies that a section of Indian college students will take into account these choices and over time not solely the variety of campuses will improve but additionally this system portfolios provided by these campuses.”
Furthermore, with 97% of Indian college students looking for training that leads on to jobs, in keeping with research commissioned by Metropolis St George’s, College of London and performed by Arlington Analysis, crackdowns on post-study work choices throughout main locations are elevating issues, as lobbying to finish Optional Practical Training (OPT) within the US heats up and the UK is already set to cut its Graduate Route visa from two years to 18 months from January 2027.
With “shrinking entry-level jobs and unstable economies marginally slowing the outflow” of scholars, stakeholders want to think about options that tackle each the study-abroad course of and outcomes, Khanna mentioned, to make sure Indian and worldwide college students proceed to pursue training overseas in big numbers.
“Reassuring feeders and stakeholders on financial stabilities, native security, entry to significant jobs and multi-cultural environments on campuses will convey again a number of the misplaced confidence because the pandemic,” said Khanna.
“College students and fogeys additionally want to know that latest scholar visa coverage modifications worldwide are meant to make conventional examine locations extra significant, with a stronger deal with high quality — and these modifications ought to be welcomed.”
