Tiruchi students look beyond U.S., U.K. for overseas education

Volatile global politics, visa restrictions, and rising cost of living are forcing students in Tiruchi to reconsider their option of proceeding to the U.S., the U.K., and Canada for higher education.

Some educational consultancies have closed down their overseas departments because of the changing market dynamics and decided to concentrate on the more vibrant domestic sector.

The availability of one-year postgraduate courses had made the U.K. a preferred destination for many Indian students. However, of late, there had been a slowdown in demand for these courses because of the rise in living costs and greater restrictions on part-time employment, said education consultants.

“Every September, we used to have up to 50 students from Tiruchi going to major English-speaking countries, where the fees would be over ₹15 lakh a year. This year, we have only around 30 students enrolled so far, mostly for the U.K. This despite the fact that education loans being available easily in India with banks willing to fund up to ₹50 lakh for overseas studies,” Girubakaran Periasamy of Scholars Global Education told The Hindu.

Artificial intelligence, data science, business analytics, electronics engineering, and business management are among the subjects that Indian students pursue abroad.

“There has been a drastic drop in enrolment for qualifying tests such as TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT. We used to get up to 20 students for the U.S. until recently. This year, we have only three and two of them are having second thoughts,” said S. Sivakumar, CEO of the educational consultancy U2CAN.

Mr. Sivakumar attributed the decline in applications to the U.S. and Canada to a combination of the restrictions placed on student visas and costlier degrees. “We are seeing many more enquiries about institutions in European countries such as Finland, Sweden, France, and Germany. Among Asian countries, there is a growing interest in Japan,” he said.

Published - June 07, 2025 06:25 pm IST