Indian Enrolments in UK and US Drop 20% but Rise in Germany, Ireland and Italy

Enrolments by Indian students in the UK and US fell 20% over the last two years, according to Sushil Sukhwani, founder of Edwise International. Sukhwani told @BBCWorld he expects a further 10-15% drop from current levels. 2 million Indian students were enrolled in higher education abroad in 2025, @BBCWorld reported.

India overtook China some years ago as the leading source of international students. Seventy-six percent of UK universities reported a decline in Indian student enrolments for the January intake. In the US, Indian student numbers fell nearly 7% between February 2025 and February 2026.

The Indian rupee is down more than 10% against the US dollar in the last year, Sukhwani said. He calculated that the rupee has depreciated between 35% and 47% against the currencies of major study destinations since 2019. Pragati Priya, a 29-year-old content creator from Jharkhand, will enrol in a master's programme at a university in Rome in September to study global economic affairs.

"It has kept me up at night. I don't want to burden myself with a student loan that [I] will never finish [repaying]," Priya told @BBCWorld. Priya said she considered dropping her plans, but her parents and sister promised to support her.

"That's the only reason I'm able to take this risk," she said. Sudhanshu Kaushik, founder of the North America Association of Indian Students in Washington, said many graduates end up working in the gig economy full-time after arriving hoping to secure skilled jobs. "They arrive hoping to secure skilled jobs in the fields they trained for and end up working in the gig economy.

Earlier, that work helped fund their education. Now many are graduating and doing it full-time," Kaushik told @BBCWorld. Kaushik said the depreciating currency, the job market, the rise of AI, the visa issues and the current Donald Trump administration's policies have combined to create a perfect storm.