Germany, UAE emerge as top choices for Indian students as applications to US universities drop 13%

Applications by Indian students to US universities have dropped 13% year-on-year as more students are opting for destinations like Germany and the UAE, according to the Transnational Education (TNE) Report 2024-25 released by edtech firm upGrad on Thursday.

According to the report the United States is no longer the default choice for Indian students. Germany has seen a sharp rise in preference, from 13.2% in 2022 to 32.6% in 2024-25, while the UAE has emerged as another attractive hub, with Indians accounting for 42% of its international student population.

The West Asia is quickly becoming a pragmatic and accessible study-abroad destination for Indian students, offering degree programs from global campuses, it said.

In Dubai and Qatar’s Education City, satellite campuses of elite US universities including Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, RIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Weill Cornell offer the same degrees as their home institutions, added the report.

In 2022, the US (19 per cent) and Canada (18 per cent) were the top destinations for Indian students, revealed the report.

US had surged to nearly 60 per cent, before settling at 47 per cent due to multiple factors, it stated, adding that two years later, the landscape shifted because it made career sense.

Transnational Education (TNE) Report 2024-25, is based on a survey of over one lakh respondents, predominantly from India, conducted from January 2024 to May 2025.

The report further revealed that Canada also witnessed a reduced applications from 18 per cent in 2022 to 9 per cent in FY25.

Meanwhile, it said, despite concerns around policy changes, the UK still attracts tens of thousands of students from India each year, thanks to its globally ranked universities, shorter postgraduate degrees and wide subject offerings.

But alongside the UK’s dominance, Ireland has quickly carved out its own space as well, it said.

With inputs from agencies