'It felt like my way out'

Why Indian students head to UK universities

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen

The aspiration to travel abroad for university and work has long been ubiquitous across India. In a country of 1.4 billion people, places at India's top universities are excruciatingly competitive and graduate job prospects at the other end of studies are gloomy. Unemployment topped 8% last month, with graduate unemployment at about 18%.

In 2022, 770,000 Indian students went to study abroad and almost 140,000 of them travelled to the UK.

For those in the middle and upper classes who have the means to send their children abroad for university, it has long been a choice between the US and the UK, both for cultural ease English is largely the second language of educated Indians - and the quality of academic institutions.

However, high fees and other costs mean it is still only a small percentage overall who get the chance to study abroad. Many families make huge sacrifices to send their children to foreign universities, often mortgaging their homes or taking on huge personal debt, with the view that it is a worthwhile investment in the long term. There is also a booming and unregulated business of "agents" who help students in India get into British and American universities, often at a heavy cost.