Though US, UK, Australia and Canada are the traditional favourites of students of India going to study abroad however as per the current trends, some other countries are also emerging as the top foreign study destinations for students. Spain is one of those countries which has seen a rise of up to 30% of Indian Students in current years’ admission session.

Spain currently hosts 1.2 lakh foreign students to study in the country according to the latest data of 2019. The number of Indian students in Spain is around 4,500. The data is shared by an Embassy of Spain Official. The data also shows that the number of Indian students studying in Spain has gone up by 30%. The data shows that while only 302 students took admission in Spain in 2015 admission session from Northern part of India, the numbers from the same region touched 531 in 2019.

South India is the second-highest contributor of Indian students who opt for Spain. A 29% hike in students is observed combining the data of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The third highest contributor is the West Bengal and Odisha (Eastern Region) of India. While there were only 206 admissions from these two states in 2015, 391 students from West Bengal and Odisha chose Spain for higher studies in 2019.

As per the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) record, the hike rate of Indian students in Spain is higher than the previously popular destinations of Australia, US, UK and Canada. China tops the list in terms of the total number of Indian students studying in the country with the number of 9,77,070. The second place is held by the USA where 2,11,703 lakh Indian students stay and study in various Universities.

According to a renowned career counsellor, Mr Santha Chowdhury, the recent policies of scrapping post-study work visa by the UK and restricting H1B visa laws in the US has stimulated the shift of students from these countries. This has diverted the flow of Indian students to Spain, Canada, Germany and Japan.

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He informed that the universities in Spain are now offering courses in English as well beside previously existing Spanish. So, the language barrier is eradicated. Students are learning Spanish in the country and taking up jobs in more than 20 countries where Spanish is recognised as an official language.