The changing patterns of India's student migration

The Hindu:  - Published on 18 December 2025

Why in News

Recent parliamentary reports, MEA data and the Kerala Migration Survey 2023 highlight student migration as a growing diaspora welfare and economic issue. Student emigrants from Kerala alone doubled to 2.5 lakh, accounting for 11.3% of total migrants, with education-related outflows of ₹43,378 crore—nearly 20% of Gulf remittances. Visa curbs in Canada and the UK have further intensified risks.

Drivers of Student Outflow

India’s student migration has surged to 13.8 lakh in 2025, nearly tripling over the past decade, as middle-class families increasingly self-finance overseas education. What began as a pursuit of elite global degrees has shifted towards lower-tier foreign institutions, raising concerns about debt, deskilling and reverse remittances.

Middle-class households increasingly mortgage assets to fund ₹40–50 lakh education loans, driven by aspirations for PR, jobs and social mobility.

• Major destinations: US (4 lakh students), Canada (4.27 lakh), UK, Australia, Germany.
• Push factors: Perceived quality gaps in Indian higher education, job scarcity, and slow research-industry linkage.
• Structural issues: Unregulated agents divert students to low-ranking colleges with weak employment outcomes, bypassing affordable offshore campuses in India.

Impacts

Positive

• Host countries gain significantly (Canada: 3.61 lakh jobs, $30.9 bn GDP contribution).
• Potential long-term remittances if students secure skilled employment.

Negative

• Brain waste as graduates work in low-skill jobs due to visa limits.
• Debt traps and mental stress from high loans and uncertain migration pathways.
• Reverse remittances, where Indian household savings subsidise OECD economies.
• Only 25% of UK postgraduates transition to skilled work visas, highlighting limited returns.

Way Forward

• Regulate education agents through licensing and strict accountability.
• Mandatory pre-departure counselling on costs, job prospects and visa realities.
• Bilateral agreements for institutional transparency and student protection.
• Domestically, strengthen IITs, IIMs, state universities, promote PLI-style incentives for education exports, and expand offshore campuses.
• Leverage alumni networks to enable reverse brain drain.

Conclusion

India’s student migration reflects both aspiration and systemic failure. Without safeguards, it risks becoming a cycle of exploitation and deskilling rather than mobility. Aligning migration with Viksit Bharat goals requires reforming domestic education, protecting students abroad, and converting global exposure into national human capital.