About 13.35 lakh Indians pursuing higher studies abroad, Canada tops list

The Ministry of External Affairs in response to questions regarding students who have embarked on their study abroad journey has revealed that more than 13.35 lakh students are currently pursuing higher studies in countries abroad.
“ Indian Missions/Posts abroad constantly engage with Indian students studying overseas and encourage them to either register with them or on the Global Rishta Portal. They organise “Welcome Ceremonies” for Indian students who travel abroad for the first time and brief them on security issues in the host countries. They also advise them to register with the Indian Missions/Posts and to regularly stay connected. Indian Missions/Posts use the aforesaid method to collect data of Indian students abroad through voluntary registrations. Indian Missions/Posts abroad also coordinate with the concerned authorities in the host Governments to secure data on the number of Indian students studying overseas,” answered Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.
As per the data released by the MEA, a total of 1335878 students are pursuing their higher education abroad in 2024 which has increased from 1318955 in 2023.
The number of students moving to countries abroad has seen a spike in comparison to the pre-covid year. As per the data available, in 2019 a total of 675541 students moved abroad to pursue their higher studies. The numbers saw a dip in 2022 where only 907404 students commenced their study abroad journey compared to the figures in 2021 where 1158702 students had enrolled in universities abroad.
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Among the top five countries that Indian students have opted to choose as their study abroad destinations are Canada, USA, UK, Australia and Germany. As per the official data, 427000 students opted for Canada, 337630 students opted USA, 18500 students joined universities in UK, 122202 students opted for Australia and 42997 chose Germany as their study abroad destination.
In comparison to the previous year’s figures, student enrollment in Canada saw a dip as 427000 students enrolled in 2024 while 427085 students had enrolled in 2023.
Students opting for higher studies in Russia and Ukraine saw a decrease as 24940 students chose the former and 2510 chose the latter. In 2022, a total of 23515 students had opted for higher studies in Ukraine.
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