'Quality education, opportunities pull Indian students to US universities'

WASHINGTON: Globalisation, enormous opportunities in the US and a large Indian diaspora are the main attractions for students from India coming to America for higher education, especially in STEM, according to educationists.

STEM courses are the ones that fall under the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

"The growth of the Indian youth and their enthusiasm for education and the opportunities in the United States are very much a pull," Marvin Krislov, President of Pace University, told PTI in an interview.

A recent report by the International Educational Exchange revealed that last year, India surpassed China as the top place of origin for international students, with a record 3,31,602 Indian students in the US in 2023-2024.

This was a 23 per cent increase from the previous year.

"There's a large Indian-American community that is part of the attraction. People enjoy having those close connections to the Indian community. There are also just enormous opportunities and so many Indians have come here and gotten their education. Some of them have stayed at least for a while and have had enormous success," Krislov said.

According to the report, Indian enrolments increased primarily at the graduate (1,96,567, +19 per cent) and Optional Practical Training (OPT) academic levels (97,556, +41 per cent).

OPT is a temporary work permit that allows F-1 international students to gain practical experience related to their field of study.

According to Raj Echambadi, President of Illinois Tech, there are two fundamental reasons for this.

"One, from a US educational perspective, the quality of the Indian students is extraordinarily high. Close to about 60 per cent of them, about 2,00,000 of them are in the graduate programmes in the US out of the 3,30,000 (Indian students in the US)."

"Because our undergraduate infrastructure in India is phenomenal and most of these students are in STEM fields, so there is a natural fit...That fit is what is driving a lot of admissions towards Indian students," Echambadi told PTI in an interview.

"The second broader reason is from the US perspective. When you think about the two major countries, it has been China and India. Roughly about 60 per cent of the student base in the US international student base comes from these two countries. Obviously, over the last few years, there has been a very strong relationship between the Indian government and the US government and it has not been the same (with China). That is actually what is accounting for this disparity, if you will," he added.

The number of Indian students coming to the US is growing fast as compared to three other countries -- Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada -- towards which Indian students gravitate, Echambadi said.

"(This) reveals a thirst for globalisation on the part of the Indian students. They want to globalise and seek global opportunities. They realise seeking education from outside (their country) is actually a surefire way for them to go forward," he said in response to a question.

The number of Indian students at Illinois Tech has more than tripled over the past five years, with more than 2,000 currently on campus in Mies (Main) Campus, Moffett Campus, and downtown campus in Chicago. This represents a growth of 69 per cent from five years ago, according to Echambadi.

Krislov said there is enormous enthusiasm for Indian students at Pace University.

"We have over 2,000 Indian students right now, and I have close ties with the consulate here and we go to India every year. I just, in fact, came back from India. There's a lot of plus reasons why we have done so well with Indian students at Pace," he said.

"It is wonderful to send Indian students to America. But we also wanted to have more of reciprocity and that's something that we've been working on at the Pace University for quite a while," Krislov said, adding that University is working with the O P Jindal Global University.

"We have a very strong relationship with O P Jindal. We send faculty and students there. They send faculty and students to us sometimes for shorter periods. We're also developing relationships with other universities. When I'm over there, I visit other universities and we try to assess the fit between our students and faculty and their students and faculty," he said.

"I think there's going to be more and more reciprocity in the coming years, and I think that's exciting for everyone. It makes the educational experience better for our students, and I think it also can lead to really productive research and collaboration," he added.

Echambadi said the United States is best positioned as a viable destination for Indian students in the near future.

"Indian students benefit at the end because they are going to get quality options … and it is going to push them forward," he said.