Pranay Karkale is spending years of savings and $60,000 in student
loans to pursue a master’s degree in the United States, yet he
considers himself lucky. At home in India, it’s common to hear about
families selling off their land to send children to universities
overseas.
Karkale was willing to do whatever it took once he got into Johns
Hopkins University. A degree from a prestigious U.S. college, he
believed, would open doors to a better job and higher pay than he would
find in India.
“I don’t feel like I would have gotten the same level of education that
I get here,” said Karkale, 23.
Historic numbers of students from India are studying at foreign
universities as a [1]fast-growing, aspirational generation of young
people looks for opportunities they can’t find at home. India estimates
1.5 million students are studying at universities elsewhere — an
eightfold increase since 2012 — with no country attracting more than
the U.S.
It represents a loss for India, with many students seeing universities
as stepping stones for careers overseas, but [2]a boon for American
schools. As record-setting enrollment by students from China has ebbed,
U.S. universities have turned to India as a new source of full-price
tuition payments.
India’s economy is growing, but joblessness remains persistent even for
college graduates. Jobs are being created in fields such as
construction and agriculture, but they don’t meet the demands of a
newly educated workforce, said Rosa Abraham, an economist at the Azim
Premji University.
“I think many young people today feel like the economy isn’t meeting
their potential, their aspirations, and so they want to try their
chances abroad if they can,” she said.
India’s own higher education system is also short on capacity. As its
population surges, competition for admission to India’s top
universities has become frenzied. Acceptance rates at some elite Indian
universities have fallen as low as 0.2%, compared to 3% at Harvard
University and 4% at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lokesh Sangabattula, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in materials science at
MIT, is among many hoping to land jobs inside the U.S. There’s little
demand for materials scientists in India, he said, and at best he
figures he could become a professor. It’s a similar story for
engineers, which India generates in huge numbers without the industry
to employ them.
“We produce engineers whose degrees don’t have value, so people leave
the country,” he said.
Universities in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom also are
seeing surging interest, but none more than the U.S., where
universities enroll nearly 269,000 students from India. With that
number soaring, including a 35% increase in the 2022-23 academic year,
India is on the verge of replacing China as the largest international
presence on U.S. college campuses.
The vast majority are coming for graduate programs, often in science,
math and engineering — fields that have faced [3]persistent labor
shortages in the U.S. — though undergraduate numbers also are rising as
India’s middle class expands. One selling point is [4]the chance to
work in America for up to three years after graduating, a benefit
provided by the U.S. government and known as optional practical
training.
For Karkale, staying in India never felt like an option. As an
undergraduate in India, he became interested in engineering management,
which merges engineering and leadership skills. It’s a growing industry
in the U.S. and Europe, but Karkale, who is from the western Indian
state of Maharashtra, couldn’t find any master’s programs in India.
Pranay Karkale, a first-year graduate student at Johns Hopkins
University from Nashik, India, stands at the university's campus in
Baltimore on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Karkale is working toward his
Master of Science in engineering management. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
Pranay Karkale, a first-year graduate student at Johns Hopkins
University from Nashik, India, stands at the university’s campus in
Baltimore on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Karkale is working toward his
Master of Science in engineering management. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
At Hopkins, he’s gaining professional work experience arranged by the
school, a rarity at Indian universities, he said. Ultimately he wants
to return to India, but the most appealing jobs are elsewhere. After
graduating, he plans to work in the U.S. for at least a year or two.
If he could find the right job in India, he added, “I would hop right
back.”
The surge has helped the bottom line of American colleges, which charge
international students higher tuition rates. It comes as many Americans
sour on higher education, citing concerns about student debt and the
perception of [5]liberal bias at universities. The number of students
coming from China has been declining as a result of [6]chilly political
ties and a stagnant Chinese economy.
In India, American universities have become a common presence at
college fairs. Many are spending big to gain name recognition in India,
and they are fanning farther across the country to recruit in smaller
cities and towns, where demand to study abroad has been rising.
Still, for the vast majority of India’s young people, an overseas
education remains out of reach. The cost of a U.S. education is a
fortune for most, and Indian banks have scaled back on student loans in
response to high default rates.
Even for those who can afford it, the student visa process presents
roadblocks. At the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, student applicants are
routinely turned away.
On a recent Friday, Daisy Cheema slumped her shoulders and sighed as
she left the embassy. She spent weeks preparing for a visa interview
after getting accepted to Westcliff University, a for-profit college in
California. She hired an agency to help, but her visa was rejected with
no reason provided; she just received a slip of paper saying she could
reapply.
Cheema, 22, hoped to gain work experience in the U.S. before returning
to India to support her family. Her parents, who own a gas station in
the northern Indian state of Punjab, were going to pay with their
savings.
“I feel terrible right now,” said Cheema, holding back tears. “But I
will prepare more and try again. I’m not giving up.”
America’s shift toward Indian students is visible on campuses like the
University of Texas, Dallas, where enrollment from China fell from
about 1,200 to 400 over the past four years. Meantime, enrollment from
India grew from about 3,000 to 4,400.
Rajarshi Boggarapu came to the U.S. to get a master’s degree in
business analytics and chose UT-Dallas in part because of its large
Indian population. He borrowed $40,000 for tuition, which he sees as an
investment in his future.
“We value education more than anything else back in India,” he said.
Like many U.S. universities, Johns Hopkins is deepening ties with
India. It has hosted Indian diplomats to discuss health and engineering
partnerships and is part of a new task force formed by the Association
of American Universities to promote exchange with India.
Before he came to the U.S., Karkale had concerns about the political
climate, but the campus made him feel welcome. When he couldn’t return
home for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, he was surprised to find
a campus celebration that drew hundreds of students and staff.
In a campus gym adorned with colorful flowers and lamps, Karkale
watched as student groups performed dances to a mix of new and old
Indian music. There was a Hindu prayer ceremony. And when the dance
floor opened up, Karkale joined in.
“It was a memorable evening,” he said. “It made me feel right at home.”
___
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from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all
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of supporters and funded coverage areas at [8]AP.org.
References
1.
https://apnews.com/article/technology-india-economy-ca599ec7f67e2c89bd2c87b4cc3ec7dd
2.
https://apnews.com/article/college-international-students-india-china-8104695e27ca9d035ce6f15ad52f1bc5
3.
https://apnews.com/article/math-scores-china-security-b60b740c480270d552d750c15ed287b6
4.
https://apnews.com/article/science-technology-international-students-engineering-9849c942cdf96553218984a529ea7e92
5.
https://apnews.com/article/free-speech-college-campuses-0b2811fb35c9c6288b7517da7c9affd3
6.
https://apnews.com/article/china-us-academic-cooperation-science-nih-investigation-44bfd9f18a5f76d8889aa5a30ea165eb
7.
https://www.ap.org/about/standards-for-working-with-outside-groups/
8.
https://www.ap.org/discover/Supporting-AP