The number of American students studying in India has fallen by more than 65% in the past decade, a decline that began before the Covid-19 pandemic, has continued during the health crisis, and has yet to recover. Education experts said that low global rankings of Indian universities, stringent curricula, and lack of infrastructure are some of the factors contributing to the decline.
According to data from the Institute of International Education (IIE), a non-profit organization funded by the US State Department, India attracts only 0.52% of US students studying abroad, as reviewed by HT.
In 2023-24, the latest year for which data is available, out of 2,98,180 US students studying abroad, only 1,578 chose India. This represents a sharp decline of 65.6% from 2013-2014, when 4,583 American students came to the country.
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In contrast to American students, more than 3,60,000 Indian students are currently studying in the US, constituting 30.8% of the international student population there. It is worth noting that India is the largest source of foreign students in the United States.
How did the numbers go down?
According to data from the Institute of International Education, the number of American students in India began declining before the Covid-19 pandemic, declined further during the crisis, and has yet to recover.
In 2004-2005, 1,767 American students chose to study in India, placing the country among the top 25 study abroad destinations for American citizens.
Interest continued to grow at a steady pace, and by 2011-12, the number had doubled to 4,593 students. This has made India the 12th most popular destination for higher education, behind countries like Japan and Argentina, HT reported earlier.
The increase maintained its pace until it entered a decline in 2016-2017, a decline that was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019-2020, the number of American students in India fell by half and by 2020-2021, it stood at just 16.
Why don’t American students choose India?
According to education consultants who spoke to HT, various factors, such as stringent curriculum, lack of infrastructure and low university ranking, are leading to a sharp decline in American students choosing India for education.
“Indian universities do not feature very high in global rankings. If someone has access to top-rated colleges in the world, why would they leave that and come to India? Secondly, I think most of the time our curriculum is very clearly laid out and can be very rigorous,” said Mrinalini Batra, who runs International Educational Exchange.
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Batra also mentioned that Americans are also concerned about the inability of many colleges to provide on-campus housing for international students and transfer academic credits to local universities.
Meanwhile, study abroad programs in Asia have taken much longer to recover, compared to those in Europe, due to travel restrictions, said Raj Ichambadi, president of the Illinois Institute of Technology. “Because student word of mouth is a critical driver of these programs, this multi-year disruption has severely broken India’s enrollment pipeline,” he added.
While India’s appeal has long centered on language immersion, cultural agility, and the liberal arts, higher education in the United States is now increasingly driven by technological specializations and direct employment opportunities.
“India must position itself to offer competitive, high-value opportunities in cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other emerging areas,” Ichambadi said.
Today, India attracts fewer American students than Belize, with a population of about 4.41 thousand people, and only slightly more than Vietnam and Ghana.
The number of India to US continues to rise
While the number of American students in India continues to decline, the number of Indian students in the United States continues to increase.
In 2023-24, 3,31,602 Indian students went to the US for higher education, overtaking China as the largest source of foreign students in the US.
This number has increased by 9.5 per cent in 2024-25 to 3,63,019.
