War forces a shift! Indian students dump Ukraine, find new hope in Georgia's universities

In 2024-2025, Indians spent $50.25 million on education in Georgia, significantly up from $10.33 million in 2018-19, data provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s Liberalised Remittance Scheme obtained under the RTI Act, The Indian Express reported.

Ukraine, which was one of the top 10 favourite cities for the Indian students, has taken a massive hit over the last few years.

As compared to $14.80 million spending in 2018-19, Indians have just spent $2.40 million in 2024-2025.

The Indian remittances in Ukraine had touched $39.12 million in 2021-2022 but after the Russian invasion, the figure fell sharply to $10.6 million in 2022-23.

In the same period (2022-23), Georgia emerged as the one of the 15 top countries where Indians sent money for educational goals.

In a massive rise from the 21st position in 2018-19, Georgia ranked 14 in 2022-23 and later improved to 12.

Pratibha Jain, CEO of Eduabroad Consulting, said as quoted by The Indian Express, "Georgia has been popular for its medical courses.

"It was quite popular even before the war because of its proximity to Europe, and because it was very cost effective. Their laws for residency are simple, and medical graduates can consider living and working there."

As per the data submitted in the Indian Parliament last year, the top five countries for the Indian students are Canada, the US, UK, Australia and Germany.

Among the five countries, all except UK and Germany have witnessed a decline in the spending on education by the Indian students.

While Canada witnessed a sharp decline by 43 percent as compared to 2023-24, Germany recorded a sharp rise by 70 percent in the same time bracket.