25% Rise In Indian Students Enrolling To US Universities For Higher Education

The United States of America is still the number one choice for Indian students aspiring to obtain higher education overseas. In the 2015-16 session the number of Indian students studying in the US has increased marginally by 25% from the previous year.

At present, there are about 165,918 Indian students studying in US, contributing over 5.6 billion US dollars to the American economy. Indian students alone comprise of 15.9% of the 1 million and odd foreign students in the US for 2015-16.

The overall contribution of foreign students to the US economy is $35 billion according to reports from 2016 Open Doors data released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with the US department of state's bureau of educational and cultural affairs. [You might to know more about: Stanford Univ Makes Education Affordable, Waives Tuition Fees For Poor]

According to the data, India and China are among the top contributers, while the increase in Chinese students going abroad is about 8% only, Indian students continue to flock to the US rising the number to about 25%. However, remains in the first position, sending about 3.28 million students to the US for higher education.

Experts owe the rise in Indian students choosing USA to the ease in entry norms to the US and the country's highest priority to maintain people-to-peole contact. [Interesting read: Educational background of US President Elect Donald Trump]

The dip in UK bound students due to stringent rules on post-study visa norms has also contributed to the rise.

Also the stabilisation of the Indian rupee against dollar over the past couple of years has also motivated Indian students to come to the US for higher education. Also read: US B-Schools Increase Scholarships By 40% To Attract Indian Students

The number of Indian students to the UK halved to 2000 in five years primarily due to restriction in post-study visa and India's refusal to treat UK's one-year master's degree courses on par with two-year post-graduate degrees back home.

Read more about the reasons as to why UK is losing its popularity among Indian students

Nearly 85% of Indian students head to five countries: the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. China and Germany are also emerging as study abroad destinations.