The Brief
ME&A and India
What are these regions telling us about Higher Education development?
India's growing popularity
"Approximately 48,000 inbound tertiary-level students currently hosted in India."
National Education Policy 2020
The Indian government has ambitious plans to promote India as a global study destination in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, providing premium education at affordable costs, thereby restoring its role as ‘teacher of the world’.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are approximately 48,000 inbound tertiary-level students currently hosted in India, and for the sector to reach its target of 200,000 international students, it will require a diversification of world-leading courses and institutions. According to UNESCO, there are 235 million enrolled in universities in 2023 with a projected rise to 414 million in 2030. For this to be achieved, there is a need to enhance the number of world-leading institutions, improve teaching, research, and innovation, develop framework for effective governance, and implement a digital first approach across all states of the country.
"Approximately 48,000 inbound tertiary-level students currently hosted in India."
India's growing popularity
National Education Policy 2020
The Indian government has ambitious plans to promote India as a global study destination in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, providing premium education at affordable costs, thereby restoring its role as ‘teacher of the world’.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there are approximately 48,000 inbound tertiary-level students currently hosted in India, and for the sector to reach its target of 200,000 international students, it will require a diversification of world-leading courses and institutions. According to UNESCO, there are 235 million enrolled in universities in 2023 with a projected rise to 414 million in 2030. For this to be achieved, there is a need to enhance the number of world-leading institutions, improve teaching, research, and innovation, develop framework for effective governance, and implement a digital first approach across all states of the country.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics for Student Enrolment
2023
(current student enrolment in Indian universities)
2030
(projected growth)
Student recruitment
As per QS' 2022 International Student Survey, out of more than 110,300 survey respondents, just over 900 indicated an interest in studying in India. Of those who indicated an interest in the country, the top reasons were the importance of a welcoming environment for international students, and the option to study at universities with high-quality teaching and affordability.
According to UNESCO, the international tertiary-level students that are currently in India are from the neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Afghanistan, the United States, the Middle East (UAE and Yemen), and African countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
India is looking to Asian and African source markets, namely Nepal, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Rwanda.
Top 3 factors considering India as a study destination (QS International Student Survey)
It is welcoming to international students
It has universities with high quality teaching
It has an affordable cost of living
Indian in QS WUR
2020
2021
2022
2023
QS Best Student Cities Ranking 2023
Four cities from India are part of the QS Best Student Cities Ranking 2023. Mumbai tops it at 103 (rising upwards from 106 in 2022), It has strong Employer Activity score, reflecting their popularity amongst domestic and international employers. The other Indian cities that are included in the ranking are Bangalore, Chennai, and New Delhi.
Institutional Performance
QS World University Rankings 2023
India is the most improved country in the 2023 QS World University Rankings. There are 41 Indian institutions featured in the latest rankings. Some important points that emerge here is the highest overall citation per faculty (compared to other markets in Asia), and the lowest scores in faculty and student ratios compared to others. However, Internationalisation continues to remain a challenge.
QS World University Rankings by Subject
Engineering is the best performing subject area for India, where at least two universities ranked in the top 100 in six individual subjects. Indian universities receive more domestic recognition (63 percent) compared with the top 100 universities in the world. This is consistent across all subject areas.
Indian unis in QS WUR
Action Points
India needs to enhance their number of world-leading institutions to meet the rising number of students. They also need toimprove teaching, research, digitisation and innovation, as well as develop framework for effective governance.
The affordable cost of living and studying in India should form a central pillar of Indian universities’ marketing and recruitment strategies as affordability is one of the primary reasons cited by students interested to study in India.
Building and enhancing research capacity should be a key focus within institutions, as well as their promotion of this as an area a priority, which will enhance visibility for international presence and reputation.
Enter Middle East & Africa
Access to education
According to UNESCO, the global ‘out-of-school population’ (primary and secondary) has decreased from 376 million to 258.4 million between 2000 and 2018 but sub-Saharan Africa continues to trail the world on this metric, with 58 percent of upper secondary children out-of-school. For Northern Africa and Western Asia (including the Middle East), this figure is 30 percent, while for Europe and Northern America, it is just seven percent.
2022 QS Student Surveys
40 percent of the Sub-Saharan African students who completed the 2022 QS International Student Survey said that their international tertiary studies would be funded by themselves or their family, compared to 50% of the rest of the world.
The Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa/Western Asia region have 53 percent and 54 percent respectively of global SDG 4 (‘Access to Education’) measures being monitored.
58 percent of African prospective students in the 2022 QS Sustainability Student Survey said that they actively seek information on how sustainable a university is, and 35 percent of Middle Eastern prospective students said the same.
Students' interest in university sustainability
African prospective students
Middle Eastern prospective students
"The skills most in-demand among African and Middle-Eastern employers are teamwork, flexibility, problem-solving, interpersonal skills and communication."
Skills and employability
According to the 2022 QS Global Employer Survey, the skills most in-demand among African and Middle-Eastern employers are teamwork, flexibility, problem-solving, interpersonal skills and communication.
Employers also report a high level of satisfaction regarding their graduates’ capacity to demonstrate these skills, with at least 80 percent reporting satisfaction for each of the most important skills. Among tech-focused employers, 63 percent of African employers and 56 percent of Middle Eastern employers rated data analytics as a very important field for their organisation, and 56 percent and 46 percent respectively saying the same for data science skills.
It is interesting to note that 78 percent of African and Middle Eastern employers believe AI will be a cost-effective alternative to skilled employees by the end of the decade, and a majority believe that this will have a broadly positive social impact.
Africa in QS WUR
2006
2023
QS Rankings
Ranked African universities report above-average International Research Network (IRN) numbers, reflecting an above-average level of collaboration with international institutions. Middle Eastern universities, conversely, are below the global average. The top performers from Africa are South Africa, Uganda, Ghana and Morocco while the top performers in the Middle East are Qatar, Oman and Israel. Africa and the Middle East have increased the number of annual patents granted from 14,800 in 2012 to 20,900 in 2021. However, this still represents just 0.6 percent of patents granted globally.
2023 QS Sustainability Rankings
As per 2023 QS Sustainability Rankings, 36 Middle Eastern and African institutions were ranked, out of a total of 700 ranked institutions, with institutions performing better on social impact indicators (21.0 average score) than environmental impact (14.9). Among African and Middle Eastern institutions who were ranked in the 2023 QS Sustainability Rankings, institutions performed most strongly in the ‘Sustainable Education’ indicator, followed by ‘Sustainable Institutions’ indicator.
QS World Rankings
Between 2006 and 2023, the number of African institutions ranked the QS World University Rankings increased from 5 to 32, while the aggregate number of academic nomination received in the QS Global Academic Survey increased from 533 to 7,582 between 2011 and 2023.
Between 2000 and 2021, African and Middle Eastern nations increased their average ‘SDG achievement score’ from 51.5 to 57.5 out of 100, while over the same time period the global average increased from 60.8 to 67.0.