Study Abroad Trends for 2025: Opportunities & Challenges

As media outlets uncover the forecasted trends for study abroad in 2025, stakeholders in the education sector, including consultancies, institutions, and students, are faced with pivotal decisions within a shifting landscape. This article delves into these anticipated trends and their profound implications, advocating for stakeholders to prioritize informed decision-making grounded in reliable data and analysis. For a deeper exploration of this discussion, readers are encouraged to read the full article. 

Here are some highlights for the benefit of students and study abroad businesses:

• Untapped Potential: Despite the significant number of Indian students pursuing education abroad in 2022, the latent demand suggests a staggering potential for a tenfold increase in applicants. This presents substantial growth opportunities for study abroad businesses.
• Dominance of the “Big Four”: The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia continue to reign as the top destinations for international students, maintaining their allure and prominence in the study abroad arena.
• Students genuinity of utmost importance: Germany introduces new regulations pertaining to authentication of academic degrees and verification of financial support. Same has been the case with Australia, we did a post on it in the past weeks.
• Language barriers: Turkey and Japan are welcoming Indian students but language can be a major deterrent. Same is the case with South Korea, highlighted in a post in the past few weeks.
• US Strategies: In the face of declining domestic enrollments, US institutions are devising strategies to attract more Indian students by offering scholarships and incentives. Further insights into these initiatives will be explored in forthcoming posts, shedding light on evolving admission policies and financial aid provisions.
• Other countries facing enrollment cliff: UK seeing drop in enrollment of international students because of stringent policies. 

Read the full article for more: 

An article carried in the April 29 issue of Education Today discussed five study abroad trends likely to intensify in 2025. It mentioned a “2023” MEA figure of 1,324,954 Indian students studying abroad in 79 countries. Actually, the figure is from 2022 and it is estimated data*.

*Rajya Sabha, unstarred question No. 861, posed by Abdul Wahab Khan MP from Kerala, on Feb 9, 2023 and answered by the Ministry of External Affairs on Sept 2, 2023. Subject: The number of Indian students studying abroad.

https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/ru861-09-02-2023-1-en.pdf

The MEA cited figures from a 2022 report:

https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/lu3820-1-mar-25-22.pdf 

Leaving aside the question over the age of the data, it must be acknowledged that 1,324,954 — or in plain words, one MILLION  three hundred twenty-four thousand nine hundred fifty-four — is an astonishing number.

If more than a million Indian students succeeded in going abroad, then what would have been the number of those who wanted to go but were disappointed?  We have no way to know, but the figure could easily be ten times that number.

This huge number represents the market for study abroad consultancy services. Again, we have no exact number, but we know that thousands of consultancies are vying for a share of this market.  Intense competition compels them to keep an eagle-eye on even the smallest bit of business intelligence so that they can stay ahead of market trends. The better they are able to predict the future, the better they will be able to adapt and update their products — and ultimately, increase their revenue.

Trends to expect in 2025

The Education Today article mentioned five trends to expect in 2025. Three of the trends mentioned were factors that reflected neither inside information nor verifiable information. These were:

1. Focus on career-ready skills catering to job market demands of an evolving job market. Mentioned were: AI, critical thinking, intercultural communication, flexibility, problem-solving abilities. In that list, the only specific discipline is AI.

2. Upward trend in enrolment from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This may or may not be true. The article did not cite any source for its assertion and a thorough “googling” of the topic yielded nothing.

Rise in quality of career and college counselling support. This is another assertion. It may be true that quality is improving vis a vis some consultancies but it is unreasonable to claim that in general, across the board, quality of counselling is improving for all consultancies. The writer cites nothing to support this assertion.

The two areas where the writer did go out on a limb were:

3. Aspiring students may look beyond the traditional Big Four (US, Canada, UK, Australia)

4. Increased availability of scholarships and financial aids

Expanding on the first of these possible trends, the writer reasoned that students might consider seeking admission in countries other than the US, Canada, UK and Australia) in response to three factors, namely:

• Post-study work opportunities,
• Student-friendly visa policies,
• Lower living expenses.

The writer specifically named the UAE, Japan, Germany, Ireland and Turkey as likely to attract Indian students.

Looking at the data in the MEA report, one can’t see any strong interest in those countries – at least no great interest up to 2022.

The 2022 rank of those countries in terms of number of Indian students studying was:

• Number 11: Germany
• Number 13: Ireland
• Number 14: UAE
• Number 26: Japan
• Number 54: Turkey

Germany has NOT become more welcoming. Quite the opposite. Germany has introduced new regulations pertaining to authentication of academic degrees and verification of financial support.

For full details, see: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/germany-makes-aps-certificate-mandatory-for-students-applying-from-india/articleshow/94390320.cms?from=mdr

Chances of getting admission and visa to study in Turkey may be looking a little brighter. At least the Turkish government has signaled a tentative welcome by inviting Indian students to send in their online applications for Turkey Scholarships 2024 (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral courses).

For full details, see: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/turkey-opens-scholarships-for-indian-students-last-date-to-apply-is-feb-20-here-is-everything-you-need-to-know/articleshow/107263226.cms?from=mdr

Language is a problem in both Germany and Turkey and even more of a problem in Japan.

Will students try Ireland?  

The plus point is that a student who is fluent in English doesn’t need to learn any other foreign language. High tuition and cost of living are deterrents. The other downer is that Ireland is not a big country: it has a total of 28 universities and colleges. In comparison, the USA has 3,982 colleges and 5,300 universities.

The UAE presents the same drawbacks as Ireland: high cost and few institutions. The UAE has only 133 colleges and universities. However, it does have a booming economy, growing job market, tax-free income and easy visa policies, which means that the country scores over both Ireland and Turkey in easy transition from study to work. In fact, the UAE allows foreign students to work 15 hours a week.

A look at the MEA figures shows that there has been very little movement in ranking among the top ten student destinations over the past five years.

The fifth trend that the Education Today writer mentioned was increased availability of scholarships and financial aid – and in particular, a rise in the number and amount of scholarships and financial aid to Indian students. The writer claimed to see greater receptivity to the idea of benefiting underprivileged and minority students, and greater interest in attracting STEM students from abroad. And even greater interest in attracting arts students.

Tracking down exact information on increased in number and quantum of scholarship/financial aid to foreign students would be a herculean task, requiring research on thousands of universities and colleges all over the world.  However, there may be some basis for accepting this assertion.

On March 28, 2024 in an online magazine, The Ken, published an analysis of a looming financial crisis facing US colleges and universities.

https://the-ken.com/story/us-universities-once-decided-indian-students-fate-now-its-the-other-way-round/

The writer, Alifiya Khan, explained that although the US population rose by 8 per cent between 2011 and 2023, the total college admissions in the US fell 16 percent.  That’s just 15.1 million students.  A further 15 percent drop is projected between 2025 and 2029.

A shop that gets fewer and fewer customers eventually goes out of business.  Without adequate student enrollment (particularly at bachelor degree level) US colleges and universities face financial starvation.

What can save American higher education?

No … WHO can save American higher education?

The answer is international students … and the biggest market is India.  A survey conducted by Open Doors found that more than a quarter of American universities increased their budgets for outreach and recruitment of international students. Not only elite universities are wooing Indian students by waiving off test requirements and tailoring courses, but even state private universities and community colleges are putting out the swagatam mat.

The balance has tipped in favour of India. According to Open Doors data, 53 percent of all international students in 2022-23 were from China and India. However, the market share for each place of origin has shifted in the last five years—with 27 percent of students from China and 25 percent of students from India, in comparison to 33 percent from China and 18 percent from India in 2017-18.

It is mere speculation to claim that US colleges and universities are going to offer more and larger scholarships to foreign students but clearly US institutions have got to solve their enrollment problem and extending more and larger scholarships would achieve that aim.

Are other countries facing “enrollment cliffs”?

A quick search for data from UK universities yielded:

One recent survey conducted at over 70 universities showed “significant” enrolment decline in January 2024. Postgraduate taught student numbers declined by “more than 40%”. Refer to this link: https://www.buila.ac.uk/news/2024/significant-enrolment-decline-in-january-2024-at-70-uk-universities#:~:text=UUK%20reiterated%20how%20recent%20policy,%E2%80%9Cmore%20than%2040%25%E2%80%9D.

The same search for Canada brought up no data more recent than 2019-20. 

Recent enrollment information for Australia said that foreign enrollments were up but domestic enrollment was shrinking. Refer to this link for more: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/2023/04/13/australia-recovers-foreign-students-not-domestic