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.”

___

  The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support
  from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all
  content. Find AP’s [7]standards for working with philanthropies, a list
  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