Eco Survey urges education reforms, global push to curb student exodus

India must reform higher education and promote international student programmes to curb brain drain and boost its global education presence

India needs structural reforms in its higher education system to address the increasing movement of students to international destinations that contributes to brain drain and outward remittances, according to the Economic Survey 2025–26. India has emerged as the world’s largest source country of international students, the survey said, with 28 Indian students going abroad for every international student choosing India.

 

“The number of Indians studying overseas has risen from 685,000 in 2016 to over 1.8 million by 2025,” it added. On the other hand, inbound students in India increased from under 7,000 in 2000–01 to around 49,000 in 2020, representing only about 0.10 per cent of total higher education enrolment.

 

 

This is far below leading host countries, where international students form 10 to 40 per cent of enrolments.

 

Similarly, annual outward remittance under the ‘studies abroad’ component has increased to $3.4 billion in FY24, with Indian students highly concentrated in a small group of host countries, including Canada, the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Australia. The attractiveness of these countries is being driven by perceived quality, work rights, migration pathways, and strong branding, the survey highlighted, and suggested that countermeasures were required. These include aggressively positioning India as a global education hub by leveraging the National Education Policy (NEP) and updated University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines to enable foreign branch campuses, mutual recognition of qualifications, and student exchange programmes.

 

It added that the ‘Study in India’ initiative can also leverage quality benchmarks, including the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), along with global rankings, to create a compelling proposition for international students.

 

The strategy aims to blend India’s strengths in STEM education and innovation with its traditional strengths in Ayurveda, philosophy, and classical arts to create a compelling, affordable proposition for the Global South.

 

The proposal comes at a time when India has struggled to capture a significant share of international students, even as the global stock of mobile students grew from 2.2 million in 2001 to 6.9 million in 2022. “Even within the BRICS bloc, Russia and China account for over 80 per cent of inbound mobility, while India’s share remains in the single digits,” it said.

 

While India remains the dominant destination in South Asia, attracting four-fifths of students from Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, its regional share has been slipping since 2011, according to the survey.

 

It warned that rising competition from other regional hubs necessitates a refresh of India’s value proposition to remain attractive to its neighbours.

 

This includes programme diversification beyond full degrees, such as summer schools, semester-abroad modules, heritage and philosophy tracks, yoga and Ayurveda certificates, and innovation or rural-immersion labs.

 

“These can be bundled with tourism circuits and tailored for BRICS and wider Global South partners,” the survey said.

 

The survey also highlighted the success of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, which has trained over 200,000 individuals from 160 countries.

 

It argued that by building an ecosystem that offers research and education of global standards at affordable costs, India can move beyond simple influence to create generational goodwill.