30 lakh students went abroad for higher studies in six years: Govt
New Delhi: With over 30 lakh students migrating to foreign countries for higher studies in the last six years, it seems the initiatives taken by the government to make available educational institutions of high standard in the county is not yielding results and a huge amount of money is going abroad. Shockingly, in the last year (2022), the highest 7,50,365 students went for higher studies.
In reply to a question asked by JD(U) MPs Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh and Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar said that the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs, maintains departure and arrival data of Indians.
“There is no index for capturing the category of Indians going abroad for higher education purposes. The reason behind Indians going abroad for higher education is captured manually based either on their verbal disclosure or the type of visa of the destination country produced by them at the time of immigration clearance,” Sarkar said.
However, as per the minister, the total number of Indians, who disclosed their purpose of visit as study/education while going abroad from 2017 to 2022 stands at 30,12,917.
As per the written reply by the minister, in the year 2017, a total 4,54,009 students mentioned study/education as their reason for going abroad, which increased further to 5,17,998 in 2018 and 5,86,337 in the year 2019. The least migration of Indian students was reported in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had engulfed the world. Even after several travel restrictions and many countries witnessing lockdowns to prevent the spread of deadly Covid-19, 2,59,655 students migrated to different countries and it witnessed an increase of 42 percent in 2021.
The highest number of Indian students going to foreign universities for higher studies was reported in 2022 as total 7,50,365 students migrated in the last year.
In his reply to Lok Sabha, the minister further said that the information on the amount being spent by the Indian students is not maintained by the Education Ministry.
In response to the question regarding the government’s proposal to establish International University of high standard to save the funds of the country, the minister said, “As of now there is no proposal to set up International University in the country. However, the University Grants Commission has drafted enabling Regulations to facilitate establishment of campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India.”
