67% of Indians prefer the US for Higher Education, reveals Prodigy Finance report on State of Higher Education in Study Abroad Market

• After the US, UK and France both stand at 8% each among Indian Students as a preferred destination for Higher Education
• Maharashtra leads the chart by 20% in terms of Indian students travelling abroad for Higher Education in the past 12 months, followed by Karnataka and Delhi at 15% and 12%
• In the last 12 months, approximately INR 30 lakhs has been disbursed to each student as loans for higher education abroad
• Plans to disburse $1 billion to over 20,000 deserving Indian students in the next three years
• Assisted 20,000 students financially across the globe so far with a global portfolio of 800 colleges and 1000 post-graduate courses for Indian students

Mumbai, 21st May 2021: Prodigy Finance, a leading cross-border fin-tech platform offering loans for postgraduate programmes abroad, has revealed the latest findings on overseas higher education trends among Indian students in the last 12 months. The study indicates that out of the total number of students funded by the fin-tech platform for pursuing their master’s degree abroad, 67% travelled to the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and France at 8% each. Approximately $40,261 (INR 30 lakh) was disbursed to each student in terms of loans for higher education in the past year.

The study also revealed crucial facts about Indian students pursuing higher education abroad in the past 12 months. For engineering courses, Northeastern University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Stevens Institute of Technology were the most preferred universities whereas Georgetown University, University of Toronto, and the University of Rochester have been the popular ones for MBA programmes.

The study further highlighted that the top four states from where the Indian students travelled abroad in the past year were Maharashtra (20%), Karnataka (15%), Delhi (12%) and Telangana (8%). Diving much deeper into the findings, almost 70% who travelled abroad last year were male and 30% were female.

There has been severe uncertainty among the students travelling abroad for higher education as most of the families went through a financial crisis amid a nationwide lockdown last year. Regardless, there wasa growth of 41% in applicationsin 2020 when compared to 2019. This is quite significant if compared with the 55% loan disbursements in 2019 after the 108% growth witnessed during 2018.

Commenting on the fresh findings, Mr Mayank Sharma, Country Head India, Prodigy Finance, said, “The year 2020 posed several challenges for students, parents, and educational institutions around the globe. It even forced the financial markets to condense, which in turn limited the amount of capital we could supply promptly to students last year. As international borders start to reopen gradually in 2021 and campus learning looks promising in the next quarter looking at the vaccination drive, we can expect a 30-35% growth in 2021 as compared to 2020.”

Prodigy Finance has recently partnered with six international colleges, offering a global portfolio of 800 colleges and 1000 post-graduate courses to Indian students. Having already assisted 20,000 students financially across the globe so far, the platform now foresees disbursing loans worth more than $1 billion to over 20,000 deserving Indian students in the next three years.

Understanding the admission outlook for higher education before the ongoing pandemic, the platform offers loans based on your future earning potential rather than your current circumstances and requires no co-signer or collateral for the loan. In 2020, the brand agreed to a landmark funding deal with the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC.gov).