A new Indian Government study, Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations, prepared by NITI Aayog, regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”
Calling these “structural gaps” that have “contributed to a growing cultural shift, wherein families increasingly aspire for their children to pursue education and careers overseas,” the study notes that outbound student mobility—contributing “significantly to brain drain”—saw 13.36 lakh students going abroad in 2024.
Terming this a major “economic loss,” the study cites Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data to show that outward remittances under the ‘studies abroad’ component of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) surged by over 2,000%, from USD 0.16 billion in 2013–14 to nearly USD 3.4 billion in 2023–24.
Pointing out that RBI data capture only “formal remittances and not the total cost of overseas education, which includes tuition, accommodation, and living expenses—indicating that the true financial outflow is even higher,” the study adds that industry body ASSOCHAM estimated in 2020 that about 4.5 lakh Indian students had spent over USD 13 billion per annum on higher education abroad.
Source – Counterview
December 27, 2025.
