After failing to get into a prestigious university in India, 19-year-old Sachin decided to study in Canada. Although Sachin's father was just a small shop owner in rural India and did not have much money, he gritted his teeth and invested all his family's savings and even took out a loan to help his son obtain a study visa.

More and more Indian students are joining the ranks of studying abroad. According to the latest data from the US Embassy in India, the country has issued 82,000 student visas to India in 2022, more than any other country and a record number.

According to Reuters, in India, in addition to middle-class families who have been keen to send their children to study abroad to seek better development, the deteriorating economic conditions in the country have also prompted people like Sachin from poor rural areas to The family spent everything, even going into debt, to realize their dream of studying abroad.

A craze for studying abroad has set off in rural India

After withdrawing his savings and taking out loans, Sachin’s father scraped together to save enough 2 million rupees ($25,035) to live in a family The study abroad consulting agency paid the English tuition fee. This institution is located in Ambala, 250 kilometers away from New Delhi. There are dozens of such institutions in the local area. They promise students and parents that they can help them study abroad and achieve a better life.

In a rural area in India, two 18-year-old boys are learning English (Photo source: Reuters)

“My dream is to settle abroad, because I can’t see English in India. into the future." Sachin said he plans to complete two years of study in business management in Canada, get a diploma and eventually obtain a longer work visa. Sachin said that he already has two friends studying in Canada. While studying, they work part-time jobs to earn living expenses, earning about 1,200 Canadian dollars ($918 US) per month.

The consulting agency Sachin chose provides services such as English language proficiency test tutoring, course selection, visa application processing, travel and even part-time job placement.

A study abroad consulting agency in Ambala, India (Photo source: Reuters)

Sharma, the company’s marketing director, said that with the popularity of the Internet in India, they have been able to Entering new markets in rural areas to develop business. They publish information on Facebook and other platforms to promote successful cases. The company has now expanded to nine major cities in northern India and has sent nearly a thousand students overseas.

Some foreign universities also take the initiative to recruit international students in India. These universities have local partners in India and attract the attention of students and parents by hosting educational fairs in luxurious five-star hotels. They will also extend their tentacles to small towns through online remote meetings to absorb students from small towns and rural areas. Recently, more than 500 students gathered in a luxury hotel in Chandigarh, about 40 kilometers from Ambala, to communicate with representatives from more than 40 universities in Canada and Australia. Singh, a small trader from a nearby town called Deira Paz, came with his daughter. His daughter has received admission letters from many universities in Australia. Singh's daughter Kaur said she had already targeted the University of Canberra because her sister studied a master's degree in pharmacy there. When she chose her major, she mainly considered safety issues as a woman, as well as career prospects.

Study abroad consulting agencies are blooming everywhere

According to reports, there are more than 300 million students in India, and more and more people are seeking higher education. India is struggling to provide adequate school places and employment opportunities for the country's youth. However, career prospects for women in the country are particularly bleak, with only 25% of women currently employed, the lowest among major economies. Additionally, millions of jobs have been cut over the past few years, forcing many Indians to leave their country.

A local visa consultant in India said that the increase in the cost of private education in India and the reduction of employment opportunities in the public sector and manufacturing have forced thousands of families to mortgage their properties or obtain bank loans, allowing them to Their children go abroad to receive education and seek employment and development opportunities.

On the one hand, employment prospects in India are dwindling, and on the other hand, there are vacancies in universities in Western countries.

After two years of COVID-19 containment, many Western economies lack foreign labor and universities lack full-fee paying international students to reopen quickly enough.

Governments in these countries have relaxed immigration requirements to fill university and job vacancies. In order to compete for Indian students, competition in the global education field has intensified.

Students at an Indian study abroad consulting company are taking English training classes (Photo source: Reuters)

Oswal, the founder of an Indian study abroad consulting company, said that obtaining permanent residency Convenience has become a major reason why Canadian universities attract Indian students. Postgraduate work and residency programs in Canada are much more flexible than in the UK and the US.

Currently, Canadian universities are cooperating with a number of international consulting companies in India to go deep into the hinterland of India to tap international student resources. “We have partnerships with universities on the one hand and local immigration services in India on the other,” said Tubbs, marketing director at another international consulting firm, which also operates an online platform for international student recruitment. He said that they hold 8 to 10 admissions seminars every year, including a large-scale enrollment seminar in September, the busiest time. The recent information conference they held in New Delhi attracted more than 1,100 people. Statistics from the organization show that studying in Canada is more affordable than studying in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. The average annual international undergraduate tuition fee in Canada is CAD 32,019 (approximately RMB 169,500), while the average graduate tuition fee is CAD 19,252 (approximately RMB 101,900). Kumar, the South Asia regional director of an education company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, said that his company sends Indian students to study abroad in English-speaking countries including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Even though the Indian rupee has depreciated by 7 this year, it has not stopped Indian parents from paying to send their children abroad.

The company plans to open 27 offices in small towns across India this year, he said. They are encouraged because two years after the epidemic, the number of applicants has increased by more than 90%.

The number of students studying abroad may increase to 1.8 million in 2024

According to the "India Express" report, the US Embassy in India stated that the embassy has issued approximately 8.2 million students to Indians in 2022 10,000 student visas, more than any other country and a record number. However, Chinese students still account for the largest share of international students currently studying in the United States, with Indian students ranking second and Korean students ranking third.

According to an international education information website called "ICEFMonitor", before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the number of Indians studying abroad showed a significant growth trend, and the growth rate has not slowed down since then.

Statistical table of destinations of Indian international students in 2022 (Photo source: Reuters)

Currently, Indian students mainly go to Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. In the future, these countries will still be the first choice for Indian students studying abroad, but observers predict that after more students join the army of studying abroad, they will flow to more countries, including Germany, Italy, China, Russia, Turkey and Ireland.

Some institutions predict that by 2024, 1.8 million students in India will study abroad, doubling the number in 2019.

Behind the overwhelming propaganda of intermediaries, the real life of studying abroad is not easy, and some guarantees are difficult to fulfill. In places like Australia, many visa applications have stalled as immigration officials scramble to deal with a backlog of applications during the pandemic. Studying and living in countries like Canada, Australia and the United States is also very expensive for low-income Indians. Mishra, who studies at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, Canada, said she has to pay three times the fees for studying abroad as domestic students, which is equivalent to a huge sum of money for her. Even with the Indian rupee at historically low exchange rates, many Indian households are still willing to take risks. Every year, Ambala, a British colonial-era army garrison, usually attracts hundreds of young people to join the army because of the possibility of lifelong employment.

However, India has tweaked its armed forces recruitment plans, cutting benefits and tenure, narrowing one of the few avenues for social mobility in the country of 1.4 billion people. That sparked protests in some places in June and caused thousands to reconsider their career paths. "I prepared for two years and took the written examination to join the army. But now, I have no motivation to join the army." 18-year-old Chauhan said. He and Sachin chose the same study abroad consulting agency, where he is currently studying English. "There is no other option but to leave India," Chauhan said.