For international students, politics a test

Many aspiring international students have been worried about how a country's current politics could impact their career

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THIS IS NOT restricted to the US alone. As per Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Indian students receiving study permits in Canada fell by 32% from 2.78 lakh to 1.89 lakh in 2024. More recently, it revealed that in the first quarter of 2025, only 30,640 permits were issued to international students (not just Indian students), a 31% decline from the same time period last year when the country had issued permits to 44,295 students. Even the UK saw a 26% reduction as student visas issued to Indians decreased from 1,20,000 in 2023 to 88,732 in 2024, as per reports based on UK Home Office figures. So where are the students going then? The latest Global Enrolment Benchmark survey suggests that Indian students are increasingly opting for 'non-traditional' destinations to pursue higher studies, such as Germany, Italy, France, and Sweden, while showing a declining interest in the top four traditional choices of the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.

A recent report by Gradding.com, a study-abroad platform, also suggested that there has been a 38% increase in Indian students opting for universities in Singapore, Ireland, Dubai, etc, with Singapore specifically seeing a 25% year-on-year growth.