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Context:

• Indian students have overtaken the Chinese to become Germany’s largest international student community.

Details:

• A record 43,000 Indian students are presently enrolled in various German colleges and universities, marking a 100% increase over the last five years.
• Officials from the German Embassy expect to see a further rise, with somewhere between 45,000-50,000 Indian students enrolled by the end of 2024.
• After India and China, Syria (15,563), Austria (14,762), and Turkey (14,732) boast of the largest international student populations in Germany.
• As of records from the 2022-2023 academic year, Germany hosts 4,58,210 international students — roughly 20 percent of Germany’s total student population.

Courses chosen:

• With regards to what Indian students study in Germany, engineering programs continue to be the most sought-after, accounting for 60% of all Indian students in Germany. But there is also a huge interest in streams such as law, management and social sciences (20%), and mathematics (15 %)

A steep rise

• As per official statistics shared by the Embassy officials, as many as 20,810 Indian students were enrolled in German universities and colleges in 2018-19, which went up to 25,149 in 2019-20.
• After that, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Indian students going to Germany continued to see rise. There were 28,905 Indian students in Germany in 2020-21, 34,134 in 2021-22, and most recently, 42,997 in the 2023-24 academic year.
• This rise has seen Indians go past Chinese students — 39,137 of whom are currently enrolled in Germany — who have always had a significant presence in German universities.

Reasons for high student turnouts in Germany:

Low costs: 

• Compared to other Western countries, the cost of education in Germany is low as higher education is mostly public-funded. This means that students only have to take care of their living expenses.

Courses taught in English:

• What has historically discouraged Indian students from studying in Germany, however, is that it is not an English-speaking country — unlike the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, Indian students’ top choices. But now Germany is offering courses in English as well. Currently, over 2000 degree courses are taught in English, mostly at Masters level. PhD courses, both structured and individual programs, take this number even higher.
• In 2023, Germany became the third most popular country for international students and the first among non-English speaking countries. As many as 16,850 fresh visas were issued by Germany to Indian students in the year 2023.

Skilled Immigration Act

• Germany’s new Skilled Immigration Act will also offer Indian students a smoother pathway into the German labor market. The German government now allows international students from outside the European Union to work up to 20 hours per week, overriding the previous limit of 10 hours.

Indian students abroad

• Apart from Germany, Indian students are also the largest group of international students in the US, with nearly 267,000 Indians enrolled in US universities in 2022-23, more than a quarter of the 1 million international students in the US. The US issued record-high numbers of student visas during June-August 2023.
• Until August 2023, Canada stood among the top foreign study destinations for Indian students. However, between October to December 2023, an 86% decline was observed in the issuance of study permits to Indian students. Canada’s immigration data shows that only 14,910 Indian students chose Canadian institutions in the most recent intake cycle, as against 1,08,940 students (according to permits issued) in 2022.
• Diplomatic issues between India and Canada have affected visa processing and a two-year Canadian cap on international student permits will reduce the number of Indians obtaining student visas to attend Canadian universities in the short term.

https://factly.in/indians-students-studying-abroad-in-86-different-countries-55-in-usa-canada/

Read in detail about India- Germany relations:

https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/india-germany-relations-19

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. "Analyse the recent surge in Indian student enrolment in German universities, surpassing Chinese students, and its implications on the higher education landscape. Discuss the key factors driving Indian students towards Germany, including affordability, availability of English-taught courses, and the Skilled Immigration Act."( 250 words)