6 days ago 
Getty Images
Representative image. Every year, millions of Indian students spell overseas to survey
After galore years of cautious planning, Pragati Priya, a 29-year-old contented creator from the eastbound Indian authorities of Jharkhand, yet decided to enrol successful a master's programme overseas this year.
Priya volition caput to assemblage successful Rome successful September to survey planetary economical affairs - a determination she hopes volition unfastened the doorway to amended nonrecreational opportunities successful Europe.
She's excited astir what the aboriginal holds, but besides questions whether she's made the close decision. The magnitude she needs to get for her programme has risen sharply due to the fact that of the steep diminution successful the worth of the Indian rupee against a handbasket of currencies, including the euro, implicit the past fewer months.
"It has kept maine up astatine night. I don't privation to load myself with a pupil indebtedness that [I] volition ne'er decorativeness [repaying]," Priya told the BBC implicit phone.
Her anxiousness mirrors the dilemma facing hundreds of thousands of middle-class Indian students who permission location each twelvemonth to survey astatine universities crossed Europe, North America and Australia.
More than 1.2 cardinal Indian students were enrolled successful higher acquisition overseas successful 2025, with India having overtaken China immoderate years agone arsenic the starring root of planetary students.
But a weakening currency, bleak occupation prospects successful the US and Europe, stricter visa requirements and migration crackdowns person forced galore to reconsider whether it is worthy taking connected hefty debts to determination abroad.
"I considered dropping my plans, but my parents and sister promised to enactment me. That's the lone crushed I'm capable to instrumentality this risk," Priya said.
For galore others, that is not a luxury they tin spend - a world reflected successful declining enrolment numbers for the upcoming September intake astatine universities.
Getty Images
The UK is simply a large destination for Indian students looking to get an overseas degree
"The marketplace is intelligibly showing signs of slowing down. We've already seen enrolments to the UK and US autumn by 20% implicit the past 2 years, and I expect different 10-15% diminution from those levels going forward," Sushil Sukhwani, laminitis of Edwise International, which sends thousands of Indian students to universities overseas each year, told the BBC.
The crisp autumn successful the rupee has compounded the challenges facing some prospective students and those already studying overseas.
"Many students who are already overseas person paid portion of their tuition fees, but are present having to refinance loans and put further backing to screen aboriginal instalments, with the rupee down much than 10% against the US dollar successful the past year," Sukhwani said.
According to his calculations, the Indian rupee has depreciated by betwixt 35% and 47% against the currencies of large survey destinations since 2019.
While incomes person risen for immoderate graduates who person got jobs and stayed overseas, climbing onto the vocation ladder is becoming progressively hard for galore planetary students.
"They get hoping to unafraid skilled jobs successful the fields they trained for and extremity up moving successful the gig economy. Earlier, that enactment helped money their education. Now galore are graduating and doing it full-time," Sudhanshu Kaushik, laminitis of the North America Association of Indian Students successful Washington, told the BBC.
This, helium said, is affecting the hazard appetite of upper-middle-class Indian families, peculiarly arsenic the weaker rupee has made an overseas acquisition much costly than ever.
Yet wide request for overseas acquisition remains strong.
According to the Global Student Flows Report 2026, Indian pupil enrolments successful the US, UK, Canada and Australia - often referred to arsenic the "big four" destinations - are forecast to diminution by an mean of 0.5% annually done 2030.
At the aforesaid time, involvement successful alternate destinations is growing.
"Countries specified arsenic Germany, Ireland, Italy and respective different European destinations are attracting expanding involvement from Indian students due to the fact that of little tuition costs, favourable post-study enactment pathways, beardown employment prospects and a much charismatic wide worth proposition," said Mayank Maheshwari, co-founder and COO of University Living, a pupil accommodation platform.
Getty Images
Despite the precocious numbers, studying overseas is inactive a luxury galore Indian students can't afford
Sukhwani says his institution has besides shifted its absorption towards these "new-age destinations" successful effect to increasing pupil interest.
Affordability was a cardinal origin successful Priya's determination to take Italy implicit the UK oregon the US.
Her tuition fees are astir fractional of what she would person paid successful the UK, portion the US was "out of the question", she said, due to the fact that completing her grade determination would person taken 2 years alternatively than 1 successful Rome.
Experts accidental these trends are a worrying motion for countries specified arsenic the UK and the US, which person spent decades gathering globally competitory higher acquisition sectors.
The interest is peculiarly acute due to the fact that India remains 1 of the largest sources of planetary students for some countries, adjacent arsenic enrolments from China person slowed.
"The depreciating currency, the occupation market, the emergence of AI, the visa issues and the existent [Donald Trump] administration's policies person each combined to make a cleanable storm. No 1 wins," said Kaushik.
"The students suffer, the universities suffer, assemblage towns endure and the broader system suffers."
He argues that the US particularly risks undermining 1 of its astir palmy sources of power abroad.
"We are retreating from the gains we made successful promoting higher acquisition arsenic 1 of our astir influential and profitable forms of brushed power," helium said.
English (US)·