Indians most keen to send kids abroad for higher studies: HSBC

Says 88% of Indian parents, world's highest proportion, are willing to send their children abroad for higher studies

Parents are increasingly willing to spend more for kids' education overseas as 88 per cent of them want to send their children abroad for post-graduate studies, said an HSBC survey.

According to the global financial services company, India has the world's highest proportion of parents (88 per cent) who are willing to send their children abroad for higher studies, ahead of Turkey (83 per cent), Malaysia and China (82 per cent each).

In comparison, Australia finds itself at the bottom, where 52 per cent parents are willing to send children abroad for post-graduate studies. For Canada and the United States, the figure reads 53 per cent and 59 per cent, respectively.

The report singled out higher costs as one of the key barriers for Indian parents when it comes to sending children overseas for education. But they are still willing to go that extra mile.

Nearly 93 per cent Indian parents, who are open to the idea of an international university education, would consider paying more for it than they would do here in India.

"Parents should start planning and saving smartly for their children's education in order to ensure that the ambitions they have for them are fulfilled," HSBC India Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management S Ramakrishnan said.

As per the survey, information technology is the most preferred sector for Indians. The proportion of parents willing to get their children into the IT sector is highest in India (18 per cent), followed by 11 per cent each in the UAE and Indonesia.

Parents from the UAE (33 per cent) and Indonesia (31 per cent) are more likely to get their children into medicine while 14 per cent of Indian parents want their children to make a career either in medicine or engineering, HSBC said.

The 'Value of Education Learning for life' survey has a sample size of 5,550 parents from across 16 countries and territories with a minimum of 300 parents representing each country.