UK, Australia may score over Canada for Indian students, shows data

Friendly post-study work visa rules, borders opening up may shift preferences for Fall 2022 intake season

If 2021 saw Canada post a manifold growth in intake of international students, especially from India, the upcoming Fall 2022 season may find the scales tipped in favour of the UK and Australia, along with the US, as top destinations.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) figures recorded a jump of over 300 per cent in new study permits issued to Indian students (over 120,000) for the January to November 2021 period, as against some 30,000 Indian students in the whole of 2020.

The United Kingdom's Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) recorded a 34 per cent increase in first-year post-secondary student enrollments from India, to over 53,000, in the 2020-21 school year.

But, for the period of July 2021 to January 2022, the number of primary applicant student visas granted by Australia fell by 62 per cent — to 14,146 Indian students as against 37,154 for the full year of July 2020 to June 2021.

“Based on government data, demand to study in Canada and the UK amongst Indian students will continue to rise,” Karunn Kandoi, general manager and head of India operations at edtech platform ApplyBoard told Business Standard. “While student inflows to Canada and the US fell considerably in 2020 with the pandemic, they’ve rebounded for Canada, and early signs suggest a similar rebound for the US as well. The UK’s outlook, too, is strong given its ability to resist pandemic-related decline. However, we're still waiting for 2021 data to review the full outlook.”

That said, amid the current Fall 2022 admissions season, overseas education consultants like Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and CEO, Leverage Edu, believe the scales might tip a tad in favour of the UK and Australia. This, said Chaturvedi, is because apart from Australia opening up its borders, it has, along with the UK, revised its post-study work visa norms to make them more student-friendly.

In Canada, meanwhile, since a few colleges have shut down, the current application trends witnessed by Leverage Edu show early reversals.

“A lot of students who wanted to go to Australia in 2020 and 2021 had to choose Canada, the UK and the US since the borders were shut. Now, with the UK and Australia announcing extended post-study work visas and Canada facing some temporary setbacks, the Fall 2022 intake might be slightly different than last year,” said Chaturvedi.

Nonetheless, in terms of absolute numbers, the US might continue to attract the highest number of Indian students. According to the Open Doors Report 2021, Indian students comprised nearly 20 per cent of overseas students in the US, with 167,582 students in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Tumul Buch, co-founder, Yocket, India's largest platform for students aspiring to study abroad, agrees with Chaturvedi’s assessment. He said that not only did the UK change its post-study work visa policy, leading to a two-three-time increase in numbers, the US also recently did away with visa interviews; visas will now be issued based only on documents, just like for other destinations.

“These are good changes and will help students and the industry. Our application numbers have been highest so far. The US is the leading destination for 2022 for us,” Buch said.

A recent study by ApplyBoard, too, found that the UK's new Graduate Route announced in July 2021 could lead to more students from India heading to the country.

“Under the new Graduate Route, students who have received their undergraduate or master’s degree from the UK are able to apply to stay on in the country for two years after getting their degree,” Kandoi of ApplyBoard said. “And, students who have completed their PhD can apply to stay in the UK for three years to gain work experience in the country.” ApplyBoard recorded a 52 per cent increase in the number of Indian students heading to the UK in 2021 over the previous year.