The document summarizes the results of a survey of Indian students studying abroad or aspiring to study abroad. Some key findings include: - The United States remains the most popular destination, chosen by 54% of respondents. - Males make up 76% of respondents, though the percentage of females is increasing. - Most students (64%) apply within the first two years of graduating and 40% seek admission immediately after graduation. - The most preferred degrees are Master of Science (MS) and Master of Business Administration (MBA).

1. Study abroad
aspirants
From India
Survey report
june, 2016

2. Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
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Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
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Project Editor B Mahesh Sarma
Project Coordinator Rajaram Sukumar
Research inputs Gagan Parida
Art Director Anshul Sharma
Deputy Art Director Rajesh Chawla
Executive Summary
l India sends over 0.1 million students to study abroad every year
l The growth rate is around 17% per annum over the last decade
l US continues to dominate the horizon with nearly 50% of the
sample opting for it
l About 80% of students take their tests before they begin to apply
l 64% of students apply within the first two years of graduation
l 40% seek admission immediately after graduation
l MS remains the most preferred degree that students seek
l The first quartile students mostly seek admissions abroad
Male
76.29%Female
23.66%
Others
0.05%
Gender Profile
The Indian study abroad market is
still predominantly skewed in favour
of male students. Nearly 75% of the
respondents is males. Even domesti-
cally, issues of safety, cultural taboos
and social pressures still prevent or
restrict higher education opportuni-
ties for women and the same gets
reflected here.Though the numbers
appear to increase from last year
(which was 81% and 19%), India still
has a long way to go.
Quick Take
l Colleges which are‘women-only’do have a good opportunity to
seek out wealthy, but conservative Indian parents to assure high
quality education for their wards.
l A special scholarship/bursary for women students could also be an
added attraction to get higher quality students as well as increase
diversity.
Itisstillmenalltheway!

3. Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
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Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
Graduate scores
The positive discrimination policies
of the state as well as overall lack
of opportunities have resulted in a
substantial chunk of 75-90 percen-
tile students not getting the course
of their choice in India. The survey
results too reflect the same. Just
over 60% of the respondents belong
to the 70-90 categories. Nearly 33%
belong to 80-90 category. However,
it is interesting to note that the per-
centage of respondents between
90-100 is not substantial.
QUICK Take
l Target the 80-90 percentile students.They are in the top 15% of
the class but still do not get courses of their choice.
l The really top quartile students seek and gain admissions directly
from universities and they are primarily driven by scholarships.
71% to 80%
31%
81% to 90%
33%
Upto 50%
7%
4%
91% to 100%
61% to 70%
13%
51% to 60%
12%
Topscorersareonthelookout
forbetterchoices
Graduation Year
Most study abroad decisions hap-
pen within three years of gradua-
tion. But the interesting trend here
is that the number of students seek-
ing to go abroad immediately after
their graduation has gone up from
14% in 2013 to 40% in 2016. And
half of the respondents belong to
the undergraduate stream (mean-
ing they seek a first degree directly
after school).
True to its nature, about 1/3rd of
the respondents (30.89%) have also
graduated at least 2- 4 years before
they apply. They continue to form a
sizeable cohort of aspirants.
Quick take
l Incorporate undergraduate recruitment plans in your
communication schemes.
l Do not ignore the Masters’students from India.They still
constitute 1/3rd of the cohort.
l The profile of the Indian student is going through a downward
revision.They are getting younger and their preferences appear to
be fluid. Catch them young.
40%
1995-20092010-201420152016
24%
30%
6%
AverageprofileoftheIndianstudent
isgettingyounger

4. Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
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Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
Month-wiseWork
Experience
IT/ITeS Manufacturing Education Consulting Energy
Upto 6 Months 19.14% 19.44% 16.67% 16.00% 4.76%
7 to 12 Months 18.52% 25.00% 18.18% 12.00% 19.05%
13 to 18 Months 14.20% 11.11% 7.58% 24.00% 14.29%
19 to 24 Months 12.35% 12.50% 16.67% 12.00% 19.05%
More than 24 Months 35.80% 31.94% 40.91% 36.00% 42.86%
Experience profile
Energy sector graduates are the most mature.Very few seek to study
immediately after their graduation. Just 3% of the respondents
expressed interest.
As in all other sectors, nearly 20% of the respondents wants to move
abroad immediately, within a year of graduation.
Manufacturing appears to be the biggest sector where the candi-
dates seek to move out and earn degree within a year of joining
the sector. Nearly 46% of candidates out of the sample is from this
sector.
Across the sectors, most experienced students work for about two
years before they decide to study abroad. The fact that most of
the Master’s degrees mandate or encourage prior work experience
contributes to this phenomenon.
Experiencecountsbutfreshers
ontherise
Quick take
l Fresh graduates too are seeking to
go abroad. Plan for them.
l Specialized programme seekers
are on the rise. Generic degrees
might not work any more.
Test taken
Most candidates invariably take the test before or during their
application process. GMAT is the most popular test as 61% of the
respondents admits to have taken the test. We have also calculated
the percentage of the test takers for each test individually.
Across the board, about 80% of the students take the tests by
the time they begin the second month of their application process.
When we conducted the survey between September-October, just
about 20% of the candidates was yet to take the test.
Studentspreparewellbefore
theybegintheprocess
quick take
l GMAT is the most popular
aptitude test.
l TOEFL still remains the better
known English language test.
l PearsonVUE is yet to make its
presence felt.
Yes
19%
No
81%
Yes
14%
No
86%
Taken GMAT Taken GRE TakenToefl Taken Ielts
Yes
36%No
64%
Yes
18%
No
82%

5. Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
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Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
United States
54%
Canada
11%
Others
13%
Germany
8%
India
8%
UK
6%
United
States
Canada United
Kingdom
Germany Australia Others
66%
20%
16% 15% 15%
35%
Preferred Location
Across individual years and cumu-
latively the USA remains the most
preferred country with 66% of the
respondents preferring that nation.
Interestingly Canada appears to
be second most-preferred nation,
though the number of students
finally seeking admission in that
country is far lesser than that of the
UK and Australia.
Thanks to the increased visa
restrictions in the last few years, the
UK which still retains the third posi-
tion as the most attractive nation,
has been relegated to the fifth place
with just about 5.75% of the respon-
dents seeking to go to that country
in the last year.
Quick take
l Canadian universities undersell their programmes in India.
With its innate immigration-friendly image, this country has
substantial potential to recruit from India.
l Germany too is getting attractive to Indian students thanks to
the low fee/no fee image and the high quality of engineering
education offered there.
Thelandofthefreeisstill
themostattractive
MS MBA MSC PHD Exec-MBA Others
58%
28%
17%
5% 4.75%
8%
MS
50%
MBA
26%
MSC
9%
Others
7%
4%
2%
Exec-MBA
PhD
Preferred Course
Between current year and cumula-
tive MS remains the most preferred
course with 50 and 57% of the stu-
dents respectively opting for the
same. MBA is a close second with
a quarter of students expressing
preference to pursue the course.
All other programmes appear to be
in single digits. The only exciting
find is that between the last two
cycles of this survey Executive MBA
has picked up growth indicating
the need for re-skilling from expe-
rienced engineers. This correlates
well with the exponential rise in the
number of engineers in the country
over the last few years.
quick take
l Pay attention to named MBA programmes and specialized MBAs.
They appear to have traction.
l Executive/Non-full-time programmes are finding more traction.
MSremainsthemostpopular
degreeyetagain

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Study Abroad: Survey of Indian Students
Scholarship
An interesting finding is that the percentage of
students who will not pursue studies without schol-
arship is now down to 38%. When we began the
survey exercise almost 81% of the students needed
some form of scholarship. That figure now stands at
a respectable 62.36%. In other words, scholarship is
no longer the defining criterion for pursuing studies
aboard. The easy availability of loans and increased
income levels have positively contributed to this
phenomenon.
Fee
India still remains a developing country. An over-
whelming 73% of students said they would want the
full fees to remain within 50K. So any cost above 30k
per month might be a dampener.
Yes
62%
No
38%
More than 100000
5%
50000-100000
22%
Upto 50000
73%
Quick take
l Scholarship is not the single driving factor now
for a good proportion of students.
l Rather than full fee scholarships partial
bursaries is the way to get more good students.
quick Take
l Keep the fee affordable.
l Nowadays costs must be justified to the
aspirants much more.
Moneymatters!Feesarestill
aconsideration
NOTES

7. With over 8 million students entering the higher
education realm each year, India’s demand for higher
education is burgeoning. And, as GER improves at
the primary and secondary school levels, the market
size would only grow exponentially.
Careers360 conducted an email-based survey on
all the registered participants on the Study aboard
portal during September for the 2016 intake and
beyond. At least 7462 response were recorded of
which about 249 were discarded for want of authen-
ticity or completeness.
This has been an annual feature at Careers360 and
this is the third edition of the survey. The previous
years’ reports can be obtained by writing to us at
research@careers360.
The survey was directed by Anupam Sinha. Gagan
Parida and his team coordinated the research and
data analysis.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Do
write in at editor@careers360.com
AbouttheSurveyCareers360
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