Indian students returning to US for studies post-Covid, says embassy

New Delhi [India], November 15 : Citing a report, a US embassy official on Monday revealed that Indian students are returning to their country for studies post-Covid.
Speaking to ANI, Counsellor for Cultural and Education Affairs, public diplomacy, US Embassy New Delhi, Anthony Miranda said, "We absolutely saw the global COVID-19 pandemic affect the country. We saw that reflect in number of international students who were going to the United States. We have seen in the latest open door report which covers 2020-2021 a 13 percent depth in number of India students studying in United States but we are already seeing rebound."
"There were 62,000 student visas, an all time high. Also we are seeing data from ministry of external affairs which covers all of 2021 that there are over 200,000 Indian students studying in the United States so that is an 8 percent increase in figures."
"So even though we experience a depth which is understandable during COVID, we are already seeing a trendline change which is going back to positive," the official said.
"And it's really a reflection that Indian students and their parents choose the US as a destination for higher education," he said.
He added, "I am excited about the possibility for more Indian students as US has relaxed its travel process for people who are vaccinated. Indian students need to be vaccinated and more and more students are vaccinated that will even increase the number of students eligible to apply to US universities.
The 2021 Fall Snapshot of the Open Doors report, which looks forward to the 2021- 2022 academic year, shows a substantial increase in student numbers this year, that international students value a U.S. education and remain committed to pursuing higher education in the United States, said Miranda.
Don Heflin, Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs, U.S Embassy in New Delhi while speaking to ANI said, "We really did a good job this past summer. The students did too. We interviewed about many people as we did in last last summer before COVID 2018-2019. 62,000 students went to the US this past fall. Heroic effort by our visa counsellor and also because students did a better job than previous year in explaining why particular school, city or program makes sense for them."

"For December, for the spring semester students we have decided plenty of appointments and next summer we expect to interview about as many people as we did last summer. We really expect enough appointments for everybody who wants one. There is going to be time for every kind of student. Students are different," Don Heflin said.
The United States remains a top destination for international students, welcoming over 914,000 international students from over 200 places of origin, according to the 2021 Open Doors Report. Indian students comprised nearly 20 percent of this number, with 167,582 students in the 2020-2021 academic year.
In fact, the United States remained open and welcoming to international students throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the U.S. government and U.S. higher-education institutions implemented measures to safely welcome international students in person, online, and via
hybrid learning methods, guaranteeing that opportunities and resources to international students remained robust.