In 2021, a total of 4.4 lakh Indian students left the country’s shores in search of a better education and livelihood opportunities. This number climbed to 7.5 lakh in 2022 and further in 2023. What used to be a trickle in the 1980s and 1990s has turned into a flood over the last two decades as disposable incomes in India rose meteorically. The trend has meant a substantial outflow of foreign exchange with research studies placing the amount spent on overseas studies by Indians at over US $13 billion annually.
For baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1964), the formula was one of almost unequivocal success. For a generation after — Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980), the decision to leave the country after school for higher studies and make a life for themselves in the United States worked well too. Not only did they succeed, this cohort has created wealth like few other ethnic communities have managed: those of Indian origin in the States earn double the median income of their American counterparts.
But by the time the Millennials (born between 1981 and1996) began to follow in the footsteps of the earlier generations, the tried and tested formula had begun to fray. Too many changes had taken place in the structure of the US, both economically and socially for the formula to continue without any disruptions.
But what many have missed or recognised is that there is an equal number of changes in the profile of students who were making their way out of India as well. Unlike the baby boomers who made it overseas on sheer hard work and often on scholarship, a growing number of the Millennials and Gen Z come from a background of privilege where their four-year education is funded by parents, who view this as a valuable experience that will allow their wards to see the world, provide exposure and in some cases provide a paid-for holiday before they get back to India and get down to running their own thriving businesses or in a more indulgent set: follow their passions.
A majority of baby boomers had no options like the ones these Millennials and Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) do: their lives depended on making their overseas foray a success. This no longer holds true.
Many of these youngsters, some of whom head to secure random degrees from pretty obscure colleges, are used to several comforts that life in America and the countries they typically head to fail to offer. These students say that while campus life in the US is full of academic rigour and excellence, they find it an isolating experience.
The mental makeup and resilience required to survive alone while performing well academically at the fairly impressionable age of 18 or 19 becomes quite daunting and many seek transfers within a few months to the UK (closer home) or even Canada, which until recently was perceived as more welcoming and less hostile.
An alarming consequence of this inability to cope with the environment is that some of these students return back home, sans degree and occasionally in a far more fragile state of mind. The large sum spent on the thwarted education takes a backseat as parents scramble to pick up the pieces and get their wards back on track. Before they know it, their American dream turns into a nightmare. Those who sell or mortgage assets to fund their child’s overseas education are often stuck when the child fails to earn enough to repay or has to return due to visa issues. Defaults on student loans have been rising.
Parents are often then left struggling with two problems: how to ensure their ward has the stamp of a degree (still required for most jobs in India) and how to get them to shake off the mental struggles or even depression the children find themselves in.
The Covid-19 pandemic in particular took a toll on the mental stability of several Indian students who found themselves stuck overseas in particularly extenuating circumstances with parents unable to reach their wards due to the global restrictions. Anecdotally such instances have been piling up.
Two other factors have changed the dynamics of studying in the US and other countries. Besides the fact that work visas follow a lottery system and therefore many have to head back to India on this count alone, heightened racial tensions have given rise to a situation where there have been a series of targeted attacks on persons of Indian origin, a majority of which have been on students.
As per newspaper reports, in 2024, 11 Indian students have been killed in America alone. Jobs have become scarcer and this has led to a higher resentment against migrants. Such instances have occurred in Australia and Canada too. This is as much a diplomatic issue, as one that the Indian government needs to take up at the government level. A growing cohort of Indian students are now returning home jobless post even an MBA which costs an arm and a leg after they fail to get placed at any appropriate job in the countries where they earned the degree.
The culmination of these myriad changes has been that for Gen Z at least the earlier formula no longer always holds true for a host of reasons. Safety aside, not all students who land up there will chart a path as did a Satya Nadella or an Indira Nooyi in today’s environment. Indian parents need to curb their tendency to follow the herd as their approach in the future holds many wider implications not only for their children but for the society and economy at large.
Anjuli Bhargava is a senior journalist who writes on governance, infrastructure and the social sector. The views expressed are personal