Over the years, there has been a significant increase in the number of students pursuing higher education from abroad. As per information shared by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh in Rajya Sabha, around 13,35,878 Indian students are pursuing higher studies abroad in 2024. This is an increase from 13,18,955 students in 2023 while 9,07,404 in 2022.
The minister shared data in a written response in Rajya Sabha to queries on whether the government maintains data of emigrant students moving abroad for studies.
As per the information shared in the upper house, in the current year the highest number of students have taken admission in Canada. Of the total 13,35,878 Indian students studying abroad, 4,27,000 are studying in Canada. The United States has the second highest number of students with 3,37,630 enrollments. Around 8,580 were studying in China, Eight in Greece, 900 in Israel, 14 in Pakistan and 2510 in Ukraine.
News Agency PTI quoted Mr Singh as saying, "Indian missions/posts abroad constantly engage with Indian students studying overseas and encourage them to either register with them or on the Global Rishta Portal. They organise 'Welcome Ceremonies' for Indian students who travel abroad for the first time and brief them on security issues in the host countries."
"They also advise them to register with the Indian missions/posts and to regularly stay connected. Indian missions/posts use the aforesaid method to collect data of Indian students abroad through voluntary registrations. They also coordinate with the concerned authorities in the host Governments to secure data on the number of Indian students studying overseas," the minister added in his response.
The minister also added that the government has been continuously making efforts to 'increase' the number of countries that may provide visa free entry travel, visa-on-arrival facilities to Indians for ease of travelling around the world.