What does international mean for India?
01 April 2026
Anant Upadhyay looks at some of the latest trends in India’s growing international higher education space and the answers it might provide for other education destinations.
India currently hosts anywhere between 47,000 and 72,000 international students, depending on who measures the numbers and the approach they take, while over 1.3 million Indians study abroad. Although numbers are low by international standards, both Germany and Japan passed 400,000 incoming international students last year, India has big ambitions.
Since 2001, incoming international students to India have grown by 518%, and a report by Niti Aayog suggests as many as 1.1 million students could be arriving by 2047. QS suggests that India’s international student population will grow by around 8% annually from 2025.
One part of the inflow of international students may be driven by the arrival of a growing number of international institutions. As of the end of 2025, nineteen international institutions had opened or announced plans for Indian campuses. While these campuses are undoubtedly seeking to grow on the back of domestic students, there is also an opportunity to attract international students and Indian students who previously looked overseas.
Whether specific visa policies or economic uncertainty, Indians studying in some of the leading study destinations are declining; Canada issued 88,617 fewer student visas in the first half of 2025, a 70% cut compared with the previous year, while US F-1 visas to Indian students fell 69% in June-July 2025 compared to the year before. Some of these students are looking to alternative locations, but some may also choose international institutions in India.
However, key to the success of those institutions setting up in India, may be the attitude of employers. The State of Working India 2026 report from Azim Premji University found that nearly 40% of Indian graduates aged 25 and below are unemployed, despite India’s economy growing by between 6%-8% annually from 2004 to 2023.
At the same time, the broader policy and market environment in India is evolving rapidly. The country’s National Education Policy 2020 placed internationalisation at the centre of higher education strategy, encouraging global partnerships, joint degrees and credit mobility between institutions. Regulatory changes mean Indian institutions can recruit up to 25% beyond their allowed numbers if those students are international.
Internationalisation in Indian higher education has many threads - where will Indian students want to study, what will parents think of international institutions in India, how will Indian institutions seek to internationalise, will international students put India on their agenda and how will graduate recruitment evolve for Indian employers? Internationalisation is complex, but the Indian marketplace offers new perspectives for international education, and perhaps provides a testing ground for other countries seeking to become education destinations.
In June 2026, CarringtonCrisp will run a second round of its International India study, providing independent data for institutions drawing on the views of prospective Indian and international students, parents of prospective Indian undergraduates and Indian employers. To take part in the study and receive a report for your institution, email us at info@carringtoncrisp.com