Instead, students are opting for institutions in Canada, followed by Australia, New Zealand and Germany. The drop has been observed in both science, technology, engineering & management (STEM), and in management education.
The reasons for a shift from the US are both political uncertainty and rising costs on American campuses.
Also Read
The actual figures for the academic year of 2018-2019 will be known when students begin their academic sessions at foreign campuses.
“There are two major factors. First, the economy itself and the other is visa regulations. Therefore, we are seeing a 30 per cent shift towards Canada from the US. Though Canada's permanent residency (PR) process is easier, the economy is not as large as the US. Yet, students are opting for the North American country, along with other destinations," said Arun Jagannathan of CrackVerbal, a test preparation and admissions consultancy firm.
Another factor in the decreasing number of applications to US colleges is rising cost of education.
“A couple of years ago, in the North American market, if 100 students were applying from India, 80-90 would apply only to the US and the rest would apply to Canada as well. The proportion has changed to 50-60 applying only to the US and another 40-30 applying for both Canada and the US; the rest apply only to Canada,” said Jagannathan. Of every 100 Indian students going abroad, 50 - 60 per cent would apply to Europe and the US; that number has come down to below 30 per cent. This is not only because of rising costs among the leading destinations but stricter visa regulations.
Canada in North America, Ireland and Germany in Europe, and Singapore in South Asia have seen a rise in applications due to cost-effective programmes. These tend to be 25-30 per cent cheaper. Also, visa norms in these nations are comparatively relaxed.
According to Bala Ramalingam, Neptune Educational Consultants, another leading foreign education services provider, Australia and New Zealand are gaining prominence predominantly due to easier visa regulations.
“People applying to Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also those seeking permanent residency and, hence are looking at further studies after completing their postgraduation,” said Ramalingam.
To read the full story, Subscribe Now at just Rs 249 a month
Already a subscriber? Log in
Subscribe To BS Premium
₹249
Renews automatically
₹1699₹1999
Opt for auto renewal and save Rs. 300 Renews automatically
₹1999
What you get on BS Premium?
-
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
-
Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
Preferential invites to Business Standard events.
Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.
Need More Information - write to us at assist@bsmail.in