Indian students

Some Indian students also head to Middle East. (Representative image/ Source: Canva AI)

Lakhs of students head abroad for higher studies every year, and while the US, the UK, and Canada have been the usual favourites, some of the upcoming study abroad destinations are Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and such. While students are exploring new options for study abroad plans, Turkey has not been able to attract Indian students despite scholarship programmes and other initiatives.
Some Indian students also head to Middle East. As per government data, 25000 Indian students were pursuing higher studies in UAE in 2024. Israel has also been a Science-students’ favourite and despite a war-like situation had 900 Indian students in the country. Iran too hosted 1020 Indian students in 2024, 1049 hosted 1049 students, 4352 students were in Cyprus. However, despite the Middle East graining traction among Indian students, Türkiye has failed to attract the same number of Indian students.

Number of Indian Students in Türkiye

The number of Indian students pursuing a higher studies degree in Türkiye had seen small increases in the pandemic years, i.e. 51 in 2020 to 54 in 2021 and 84 in 2022. However, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the number jumped to 153 in 2023 and saw a dramatic increase to 327 in 2024.

Year Number of Indian Students in Türkiye 2020 51 2021 54 2022 84 2023 153 2024 327 Türkiye has failed to attract Indian students despite its scholarships such as “Turkey Scholarships for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programmes”, which was announced by the Republic of Turkey for the year 2020. These scholarships were available for Bachelor’s, Master’s and Phd level students.
Now with the country’s support for Pakistan amid rising tensions with India, the Middle Eastern country is expected to further see a dip in the number of Indian students. “I was planning to apply to Ankara University, because a cousin of mine had studied there a few years ago. But given how Türkiye has reacted to the India-Pakistan tensions, I have dropped my plans. Neither me nor my family will feel safe if I study there, knowing the country supports terrorism in a way,” a Class 12 student from Noida told Times Now Digital.

Low Rankings

The reason Türkiye has not been able to attract Indian students is believed to be the low quality of education provided by the country. This quality has been assumed on the basis of the low rankings the Turkish universities have received in the recent past in global rankings.

For example, in this year’s QS Global Rankings, there were only 25 Turkish universities that were able to secure a rank, that too all under 285th rank. On the other hand, US had over 190 universities, the UK had over 80 universities, and Canada had 30 universities in the ranking. India, too, has over 70 universities ranking, with IIT Bombay achieving a rank of 118.

Even in the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings’ latest version, the Turkish universities failed to achieve a rank above 351. Meanwhile, majority of the top rankers in THE World University Rankings 2025 are from the US or the UK. Canada, too, has high ranking universities in this list. Even Indian universities have managed to attain a rank in the 201-250 category.

Language barrier

Additionally, while many Turkish universities offer English-taught programmes, Turkish is still the primary language of instruction in many institutions, which becomes a major hurdle for Indian students wanting to get global perspective through their study abroad plans.

Azerbaijan has also been one of the least popular study abroad destination for Indian students, as only 176 students went to Azerbaijan in 2021, 197 students in 2022, and 450 in 2023 and 2024.