As the world adapts to the new normal post pandemic and as travel restrictions in top higher education destinations gradually ease, student mobility to countries such as the UK, the US, Canada and Australia is also starting to pick up. Asian students are projected to lead the outbound international student market in the next three years, recent research has revealed.
The pandemic has affected global student mobility in many ways, especially for China, the largest sender of students to other countries for the past three decades, whose students are affected by travel curbs and other factors such as lack of English-language testing centres.
Though it is projected to continue to dominate as the largest sender of tertiary-level students to other countries with over 1.3 million students by 2025, markets like India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Kazakhstan are expected to send more students abroad.
Fast Facts:
- Markets like India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, Kazakhstan are expected to send more students abroad in the next 3 years
- The US will be the top destination in terms of the inbound student market share by 2025, with 26.6% students, followed by the UK (13.8%), Canada (13.2%), and Australia (11.7%), as per a recent report
- India sent around 750,000 students abroad until 2019 which increased to over 11 lakh students until July 2021, as per data from the Indian government
The report from an international financial solutions provider predicts that about 80% of growth in the international student market is likely to come from Asian countries.
The US will be the top destinations to study abroad in terms of the inbound student market share by 2025, with 26.6% students, followed by the UK (13.8%), Canada (13.2%), and Australia (11.7%), as per the report.
How The Indian Market Is Projected To Grow
Becoming an important driver of growth from Asia, India was not only the second-largest sending market globally, but also one of the fastest-growing sources of outbound students, between 2015 and 2019. Indian students abroad until 2019 were 750,000 which increased to over 11 lakh students until July 2021, as per data from the Indian government.
Given the COVID-19 impact in the last two years, even though there has been a decrease in student enrollment worldwide from India, the number of visas issued by the UK and US in 2021 shows that the demand for foreign education is increasing. According to data from the US State Department, the US government granted about 15,000 F-1 student visas to Indians between October 2019 and September 2020. Similarly, the number of Indian applicants to UK higher education institutions also got a boost with more than 90,000 Indians being issued UK student visas in the 12 months ending in September 2021, marking a 102% rise from last year, as per UK Immigration statistics.
Likewise, Canada and Australia are also estimated to receive a rising number of Indian students, with about 115,000 Indian students approved to study in Canada between January and September 2021 and nearly 17,000 Indian students expected to return to Australia soon. These are among the best countries to study abroad for Indian students.
Other Asian Countries To Fuel Growth
Besides China and India, Vietnam shows a promising outlook in terms of sending students abroad along with Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. By the end of 2022, the number of internationally mobile students is likely to reach 7 billion with Asian students comprising more than a quarter of that figure, as per market data.
Asia will also see the highest growth of tertiary students in the coming years as the outbound students from countries like Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan will be over 0.3 million as of 2021, as per UNESCO data.
