More than 1.2 million Indian students were enrolled in higher education abroad in 2025, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs. India overtook China years ago as the world’s largest source of international students.
But that figure is down about 5.7% from 1.33 million a year earlier, the first decline after a decade of rapid growth, the education-sector publication ICEF Monitor reported.
The drop is sharpest in the U.S. The number of Indian students there fell 7% from a year earlier to 352,644 in February 2026, according to Student and Exchange Visitor Information System data that India’s foreign ministry presented to parliament.
The same data showed U.S. F-1 student visa issuances to Indians falling by more than a third between May and August 2025, after Washington expanded visa screening and added social-media vetting.
The U.K. is sliding too. In a survey by the British Universities International Liaison Association reported by Business Standard76% of universities recorded a drop in Indian enrollments for the January intake. The QS Global Student Flows report on India forecasts that combined enrollment across the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, the so-called “big four,” will fall by an average of 0.5% a year through 2030.
The currency is compounding the squeeze. The rupee has slid from about 85.6 to the U.S. dollar at the start of 2026 to a record low near 96 in mid-May, making it Asia’s worst-performing currency this year, CNBC reported, before recovering to around 94 in June as oil prices eased. That inflates the cost of a foreign degree at exactly the moment families are weighing whether it is worth the debt.
A group of college students. Illustration photo by Pexels |
Pragati Priya, a 29-year-old content creator from the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, decided this year to pursue a master’s in global economic affairs in Rome, starting in September. The amount she needs to borrow has climbed as the rupee weakened against the euro. The prospect has “kept me up at night,” she told the BBCworried about a loan she might never finish repaying.
She chose Italy partly on cost: her tuition is roughly half what she would have paid in the U.K., and a degree in Rome takes one year rather than two in the U.S.
Her calculation is becoming common. Sushil Sukhwani, founder of the consultancy Edwise International, told the BBC that enrollments to the U.K. and U.S. had fallen 20% over the past two years, and he expects a further 10-15% drop. His firm has shifted toward what he calls “new-age destinations,” and the data shows where students are landing.
Germany, which charges little or no tuition at public universities, has been the biggest winner. The number of Indian students there more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, from 28,905 to 59,419, making India the largest single group of international students in the country, according to the German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD.
France has set a target of hosting 30,000 Indian students by 2030 and saw Indian enrollment rise 17% in 2024-2025 to 9,100, according to Campus France, the government agency that promotes French higher education abroad. The trade outlet The PIE News has reported a parallel pull toward Germany, France and other European destinations as the big four weaken.
In Ireland, India overtook the U.S. as the largest international segment in 2023-2024, growing 50% to more than 7,000 students, ICEF Monitor reported.
The drivers in the big four point the other way. The U.K. has restricted dependants and is introducing a compliance regime that penalizes universities with high visa-refusal rates. Canada has slashed study permits, and Australia has reclassified India as a higher-risk market.
For the destination countries, the shift carries a cost beyond tuition. Sudhanshu Kaushik, founder of the North America Association of Indian Students in Washington, told the BBC that the weak currency, poor job market, the rise of AI, visa issues and the Trump administration’s policies had combined into “a perfect storm” with no winners. Many graduates, he said, now end up in gig work rather than the skilled jobs they trained for.
He argued that the U.S. is surrendering one of its most influential and profitable forms of soft power.
Demand for a foreign degree has not collapsed, but being redirected. As Mayank Maheshwari, co-founder of the student housing platform University Living, told the BBCEuropean destinations are drawing Indian students with lower tuition, better post-study work options, stronger job prospects and better overall value.
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