Most Indian women want to study in the US: MSM Unify’s survey report

In 1883, Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi from Maharashtra became the first Indian woman to study abroad, at the then Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1883, Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi from Maharashtra became the first Indian woman to study abroad. She pursued medicine at Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, now known as Drexel University College of Medicine.

Exactly 141 years later, 49% of the Indian students who study abroad are women. Nearly 49% respondents of the inaugural survey by MSM Unify, a study abroad platform, said that better career prospects are the top reason for them to consider education overseas. They believed that studying abroad would open their doors to better jobs versus similar education in India. 71% surveyed women respondents were considering study abroad opportunities and the top five domains of interest are Science (21%), Management (17%), Arts (12%), Technology (7%) and Languages (5%).

MSM Unify conducted this survey among 1,256+ students, and 250+ education consultants.

Among the survey respondents, 67% female respondents said that finances could come in the way of their study abroad planning. This includes a lack of information about scholarships, grants and access to various monetary benefits, etc. The lengthy visa process and wait time (17%) were the second biggest challenge, as per the audience survey.

Traditional favourites - the US and the UK - emerged as the top study abroad destinations among women but the demand for unconventional destinations is also on the rise, the MSM Unify report added.