Of the 1.882 million Indian college students learning overseas, over 1.254 million are pursuing greater schooling at worldwide universities and tertiary establishments, whereas 628,305 are enrolled on the faculty stage.
Whereas general 2025 numbers hit an all-time excessive because of the inclusion of school-level college students, greater schooling enrolments fell by 76,000 this 12 months, 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 research allow purposes rejected in August 2025, up from 32% in the identical month in 2023, the North American nation nonetheless hosts the most important 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 research visas for Indian college students in August 2025 in comparison with final 12 months, India stays the most important supply nation, 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 greater schooling college students in key nations, as of 2025: the UK (173,190), Australia (138,579), Germany (59,000), Russia (27,000), Kyrgyzstan (16,500), and Georgia (16,000).
Coverage adjustments in main research locations are impacting Indian college students’ choices. Whereas Canada plans to chop worldwide research permits by over 50% in 2026, the US continues a hostile stance in opposition to 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 beneath the brand new £925-per-international scholar levy.
Different locations present blended tendencies: Australia has seen an increase in Indian college students however stays cautious about fraud and agent misuse, with the latest schooling reforms invoice aiming to deal with these issues, whereas New Zealand has recorded rising variety of research 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 reminiscent of Canada,” Rahul Choudaha, professor and COO on the College of Aberdeen, Mumbai campus advised The PIE Information.
“Nonetheless, in 2025, the immigration insurance policies turned restrictive in all key locations beginning with the US.”
The decline in Indian college students pursuing greater schooling overseas additionally follows a pointy fall in research 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 evaluation highlighted by Choudaha, the annual price of learning within the US has risen by Rs 10 lakh (GDP £8,200-£8,300) for Indian college students over the previous 5 years, with forex devaluation and tuition hikes pushing the general price of learning overseas up 10–12% in 2025.
Larger funding outlay together with dimmer probabilities of recovering that funding has made Indian college students nervous and cautious about learning overseas in 2025
Rahul Choudaha, College of Aberdeen Mumbai campus
“Larger funding outlay together with dimmer probabilities of recovering that funding has made Indian college students nervous and cautious about learning overseas in 2025,” acknowledged Choudaha.
“Universities additionally have to do extra by way of 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 reminiscent of Germany, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia alerts a shift in direction of lower-cost, high quality STEM and medical schooling past the “large 4”, together with Indian personal and public universities that are serving over 46.5 million greater schooling college students as of 2025.
“Indian universities are extra lively than ever earlier than in stepping up their recruitment efforts from the house market,” acknowledged Jasminder Khanna, co-founder, Gresham World.
“Be it recruitments gala’s, conferences and even retreats for native feeders, outstanding 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 tip of 2026, and the system projected to serve over 560,000 Indian college students by 2040, Choudaha sees the following three years as essential for these campuses in absorbing inbound demand amid more and more restrictive insurance policies.
“The aspirations to achieve international studying stay robust whereas affordability has develop into a giant problem,” acknowledged Choudaha.
“With over fifteen campuses providing levels in fall 2026 consumption signifies that a phase of Indian college students will think about 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 searching for schooling that leads on to jobs, in keeping with analysis commissioned by Metropolis St George’s, College of London and carried out by Arlington Analysis, crackdowns on post-study work choices throughout main locations are elevating issues, as lobbying to finish Elective Sensible Coaching (OPT) within the US heats up and the UK is already set to reduce 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 deal with each the study-abroad course of and outcomes, Khanna stated, to make sure Indian and worldwide college students proceed to pursue schooling overseas in large 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 for the reason that pandemic,” acknowledged Khanna.
“College students and oldsters additionally want to grasp that latest scholar visa coverage adjustments worldwide are supposed to make conventional research locations extra significant, with a stronger deal with high quality — and these adjustments must be welcomed.”
