Global: Indian students applications for abroad studies doubles

Indian students have recorded a massive uptick in the number of applications for studying abroad. Applications for 2022 fall intake from Indian students at foreign universities double year-on-year.

The rise in the number of applications is solely driven by an attractive role offered by recruiters at the campuses and lavish pay packages for students.

Collegify, Leverage Edu, ForeignAdmits, and Yocket are among the foreign education platforms that showcased that most applicants are targeting STEM courses in the US, followed by the United Kingdom and Canada.

Furthermore, the pay packages this year and the roles offered by top tech companies at campus recruitment drives are the two major contributors to the considerable applicant interest, they said.

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"Indian students are being offered big pay packages in the US. For an engineering/CS/data science student, the starting range is $220,000 per annum as compared to $90,000 in 2019," said Adarsh Khandelwal, cofounder of Collegify.

Colley is an Indian student consultant platform that helps Indian students with admissions to the top 100 foreign colleges, significant examinations, and exam preparation.

As per the latest numbers, students of financial accounting and economics in the US are being offered upwards of $160,000 as annual salary, he said. 

"In the last two years, over 1,000 students enrolled through Collegify at top colleges in the US are getting paid over $100,000 pa as salaries," Khandelwal said. 

Shaurya Jain, a final-year student at the University of Washington, Seattle, has reached multiple offers from top technology firms. 

Shaurya shared his experience over the rising demand of overseas studies and shared that he is "keen on joining a conglomerate offering an annual salary of $220,000, in addition to various other perks like joining bonus, stocks, free laundry and meals."

Does higher packages influence students, or is there something else?

Nikhil Jain, the co-founder of ForeignAdmits, shared his views that a large flock of Indian students are majorly contributing to STEM courses.

"With better salaries by tech companies in the US to freshers and rising income levels of parents who can afford foreign education for children, the outflow from India for STEM courses is on the rise," Nikhil said.

At ForeignAdmits, another Indian Education consultant platform states that six out of 10 students opt for computer science courses in the US or Canada.

Other factors such as the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) recognition of Covid-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin in global economies and pent-up demand from last year have also enhanced students' perception and interests. 

One prominent reason that is showing its colors is the push of Indian students towards overseas education due to the rising competition in the Indian market UG courses.

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"We are seeing Indian students pursuing everything from hotel management, sports analytics to study of wines to photosynthesis in the US and Canada," said Akshay Chaturvedi, founder of Leverage Edu.

With the pandemic being left behind for many students, students have also amplified their choices towards their likes, job opportunities, tuition fees, and many other factors this year. With a different approach for global economies such as the UK, US, Australia and Canada, the more formidable challenges of attracting students can be perceived a little near to its end.