Despite a tough stance adopted by the previous Trump administration against international students, study abroad players in India are expecting a robust growth in the number of Indian students going to the US for higher studies.
“We are expecting the overall students enrolments in the US universities to hold steady at 1.1 million per year. Within that, the enrolments of Indian students will stay strong,” said Saif Iqbal, vice president at ApplyBoard.
“The enrolments of Indian students will remain upwards of 20% annually. The 1,500-odd universities in the US are welcoming of students. The US understands that it needs foreign talent for R&D, innovation and to support its needs for skilled manpower,” said the spokesperson of a leading study abroad firm.
In the three years to 2023-24, the enrolments of Indian students in US institutes have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5%
Experts said that in the run-up to the US elections, the visa approval rates for Indian students had fallen. “The visa approvals were lower for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters after a record number of approvals in the 2022-23 academic year. This could be because the US government wants to rationalise the long-term visa issuances,” said Iqbal.
In the academic year 2023-24, the number of Indian students going to the US reached a new peak of 331,602. The 2024 Open Doors report on international educational exchange (IIE) revealed that India sent 23.3% more students in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year. India also overtook China after a gap of 15 years to become the largest sender of international students to the US.
Even though experts said that Donald Trump has not said anything against the legal immigration, especially in the context of students, there’s a general scepticism around his second term as president. For instance, in the previous term, Trump tightened the visa issuances which affected highly-skilled professionals and students holding H-1B visas. He also brought in policies against H-4 visa holders, which are the immediate family members of the H-1B visa-holders. Then, there was a clampdown on visa issuances to students from specific countries.
“International enrolments, especially in emerging market economies, will continue to increase. Most of these countries, such as India, Bangladesh, or Nigeria, have expanding tertiary-age populations and fewer options for higher education. As a result, growing numbers of students from these countries are looking to the US to study,” Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation and learning at IIE, said in a November note.
