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India wants to be a global classroom — but forgets to build the school
The global market India is failing to tap has never been bigger: mobile students rose from 2.2 million in 2001 to 6.9 million in 2022, with countries such as Canada and Australia drawing more than a third of their university enrolments from abroad.
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R Suryamurthy - Thu, 20, Nov 2025
- 11:04 EST
- 17
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India wants to be a global education hub — but the numbers tell a harsher story. While 1.33 million Indians left the country to study abroad in 2024, India managed to attract just 46,878 foreign students in 2021–22, a share so small it rounds off to 0.10% of total higher-education enrolment.
A new NITI Aayog working paper warns that unless India reinvents how it markets itself, welcomes students and upgrades its campuses, the country will remain a footnote in global student mobility even as it spends an estimated USD 70 billion a year sending its own youth overseas—nearly 2 percent of GDP. “The significant imbalance in inbound and outbound mobility,” the paper notes, “highlights the need for a more balanced and strategic approach” .
Also Read: Declining international students in US hurting economy: Report
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