new Delhi: Traditionally popular study-abroad destinations for Indian students – Australia, New Zealand and Canada – have seen a decrease in the number of students over the last three years while the popularity of the United Kingdom has increased.
Experts say that the reasons for the strictness in the selection of students from Kovid to countries are different.
Data shared in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday shows that there has been a decline in the total number of students going abroad for studies from 2019 to 2021. While in 2019-20, 5,86,337 Indian students went abroad, the numbers were lower in the pandemic years – 2,59,655 in 2020-21 and 4,44,553 in 2021-22.
When it comes to destination specific numbers, New Zealand saw a drop in numbers, with only 64 students going there in 2021-22, compared to 5,321 in 2020-21 and 10,297 in 2019-20.
Australia saw a similar trend when the numbers dropped from 73,808 in 2019-20 to 8,950 in 2021-22. Same with Canada where the number has come down from 1,32,620 in 2019-20 to 1,02,688 in 2021-22. all three countries have traditionally Attracting maximum number of students from India.
However, the trend has recently changed with the UK rising as a preferred destination. The number increased from 36,612 in 2019-20 to 44,901 in 2020-21 and 77,855 in 2021-22.
As far as the US is concerned, the numbers have not changed much since the pandemic subsided. In 2019-20, 1,22,535 students went there for higher education. It has come down to 62,415 in 2020-21 and then again to 1,25,115 in 2021-22.
Read also: For Indian students going abroad, only the destination changes – and the crisis
Australia, New Zealand hit by Covid restrictions
Talking about the change in trends, experts said that Australia and New Zealand have only lost their students due to Covid-led visa restrictions and the number will increase next year. For Canada, he said it is now getting stricter with students entering there and hence the decline.
Sumeet Jain, co-founder and higher education expert at study abroad platform Yocette, said, “Australia and New Zealand have opened their doors to students. They have lost momentum due to Covid restrictions. It will pick up now as restrictions have been eased.”
Talking about Canada, he said, “People who go on student visas are treated very strictly because a lot of people who go there, their profiles are not good, and now they are rejecting such profiles. It probably doesn’t match what they want to do in the future or the vision they have for their country…”
On UK numbers going up, he said, “The numbers have gone up because the UK has opened up post-work visas for students. This term was where they fully saw the after-effects of the pandemic and hence the numbers look good.” However, it remains to be seen how this plays out in the future, and whether the numbers still hold up.
“If the UK starts being as strict as Canada, the number of applications they are accepting will not go up in the future.”
Delhi-based consultant for overseas education Natasha Jain said, “With the UK Prime Minister talking about Sanctions On foreign students and only accepting those coming to larger universities, UK numbers may not be as high in the future.
However, he added that it would be better to wait and see how the policies unfold in future. “Meanwhile, students are capitalizing on the post-study visa opportunity.”
(Edited by VS Chandrasekhar)
Read also: How IIT, IIM graduates are teaming up to launch successful universities – ‘collective philanthropy’