Every year, lakhs of Indian students move abroad to several countries to pursue higher education, as a foreign degree is considered a key to unlocking a great life and a promising future
Hyderabad: Every year, lakhs of Indian students move abroad to several countries to pursue higher education, as a foreign degree is considered a key to unlocking a great life and a promising future. The reality, however, is anything but happy and is instead full of struggle and hardship.
Indian students pursuing overseas education struggle with the high cost of living, accommodation issues, poor mental health support, and even racism. These challenges of overseas education are not only difficult but are also isolating experiences.
One of the biggest challenges, according to students, is the academic system itself. Many find the teaching style and the social circles on campus overwhelming, compared to their experience in Indian colleges.
According to data provided by the ministry of external affairs in 2024, more than 13 lakh Indian students are pursuing higher education abroad, with Canada topping the charts with 4,27,000 students, followed by the US with 3,37,630 students, the United Kingdom with 1,85,000 students, and Australia with 1,22,202 students.
D. Karthik Reddy, a Hyderabad-based student pursuing a master’s course in the United Kingdom, said: "We are expected to do everything by ourselves. Professors very rarely explain points in detail, and if one is not fully knowledgeable and is not concentrating in class, it is very easy to fall behind.”
“Even the student culture here is very different from what I experienced in India. Within the first two months, I became very isolated because I was unable to be part of the student groups,” he explained.
Racism and cultural separatism are other major problems that Indians face in foreign universities. Though subtle in some places, people in several countries are overt in differentiating Indian students based on their race. Several students said it is a daily reality for them to be heckled with racist slurs.
A student from Warangal currently in the United States, who requested anonymity, said: “More than a year ago, two of my friends and I were physically assaulted by a restaurant owner and a waiter for asking for lukewarm water. They pushed my friend to the floor, who suffered neck injuries, while I sustained scrapes and bruises on my arms. They were shouting the n-word and were very abusive.”
The student further stated that they did not press charges because they did not want a remark on their visas and assumed the police might side with the restaurant, landing them in much worse situations.
Another student, Vinay Kumar, who is studying in Australia, said, "I’ve been asked if I can speak English properly or if I eat curry every day. It’s frustrating."
Financial pressures are another major burden for students. Studying abroad is expensive. Tuition fees, rent, living expenses, and miscellaneous expenses often run into lakhs of rupees per year. Several students take loans from banks and work part-time jobs to pay for the EMIs, but even that is not always enough.
"I took a huge loan, and my parents sold some land in our village for my education. I assumed I could work part-time after completing my first year of education, but rent and food eat up most of my earnings," said M. Srikanth, a Warangal-based student currently in Canada.
All of these issues take a toll on the mental health of students, who suffer in silence with limited support systems.
"I had anxiety attacks during my first semester. I felt very lonely and homesick, and I didn’t know where to go for help. I couldn’t even share it with my family, since they would worry about my situation," said G. Divya, hailing from Hyderabad and pursuing her MSc in New Zealand.
