The growth in number of Indian students going abroad for higher education has outpaced the growth in domestic student numbers by six times in the last three years with 770,000 in 2019. It is expected that the growth will be twice of that by 2024 - to reach 1.8 million students.
According to the latest report called 'Higher Education Abroad'by homegrown consulting firm RedSeer, these 1.8 million students are expected to be spending $75-85 billion abroad.
The report reveals that most of the students are enrolling in postgraduate courses in Anglophone destinations and the trend is expected to be maintained in the near future.
Over the last 3-5 years, Canada has replaced the US and emerged as the most preferred country for Indian students opting for higher education abroad.
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Countries like the UK, Australia, the US and Canada have a higher number of institutions, thus attracting students from all over the world. The US is home to more than 4,000 universities, offering the highest average salary levels, followed by the UK and Canada.
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The report further highlights that the significant increase in students choosing to study abroad over the recent years can be attributed to a better quality of education and outcomes abroad, gaps in the Indian education system resulting in upward income mobility of Indian households and supply-demand imbalance and higher standards of living.
India has, however, recorded an increase in incomes in India over the past two decades, leading to growing spends on post-K-12 education. Furthermore, people are becoming more aware of the advantages of studying abroad and the rising diaspore of Indians in popular study destinations.
The report also shows that the majority of these Indian students are from Punjab, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, which are some of the richest Indian states.
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Online channels have become the most popular medium to get external support, driven partially by lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A growing interest from Tier 2 and 3 city students is also visible due to the rise in incomes and aspirations.
Amid the Covid, many online companies have reported a 5-10 times increase in user base and revenues in their services. Online is expected to dominate the sector with their integrated offerings, higher quality services and greater student awareness of their outcomes.
Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com
