Climate on the syllabus, Indian students scoring global credits

From mastering cloud seeding and reducing urban air pollution, to devising ways to quickly extinguish forest fires and clear the Pacific garbage patch, Indians are increasingly enrolling in geoengineering courses at international universities, driven by the urgency to combat climate change and address pressing environmental challenges. These programmes, which focus on advanced technologies such as solar geoengineering, carbon capture, and marine pollution management, are attracting a diverse cohort. “Geoengineering is drawing highachieving STEM graduates—engineers, physicists and environmental scientists—many from tier I cities and academic hubs,” said Adarsh Khandelwal, cofounder of Collegify.

“We’ve also seen a sharp rise in interest from early career professionals transitioning into this space, reflecting the field’s relevance and appeal for impact-driven individuals.” Piyush Kumar, regional director for South Asia at IDP Education, notes the varied regional spread of interest.

“Students heading to Australia predominantly come from southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. For the US, we see applicants from cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and even tier II towns like Ludhiana and Indore,” he said. Popular programmes include environmental and geotechnical engineering, and disaster mitigation.

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“Students are focusing on transformative areas such as…climate engineering, cloud seeding, plastic pollution management, advanced techniques for oceanic cleanup and preservation, disaster management, cutting-edge research in wildfire control and drought management, among others,” said Khandelwal.

Emerging fields like AI-driven environmental analytics and sustainable urban planning are gaining attention, he pointed out. Institutions renowned for their innovation-driven curricula, such as MIT, Stanford and ETH Zurich are among the top choices for Indian students. “Australia’s universities, such as the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland, blend research with practical applications, making them key destinations,” said Kumar of IDP.

Similarly, universities in the Nordic regions, Germany and France are gaining traction for their advanced research facilities in sustainability and climate change solutions. In just the last year, universities such as RWTH Aachen and Mines Paris have set up advanced research facilities. Interest in geoengineering has grown substantially post-pandemic, as climate issues gained prominence on global platforms like COP summits and G20 discussion.

Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and chief executive of Leverage Edu, said, “We’ve seen more than double growth in demand for geoengineering courses in the last 18 months.” “It is a real demand-supply gap, and whenever education directly corresponds with an employment trend, it is bound to sustainably rise up.” This increasing demand is also tied to career opportunities in the rapidly evolving field of geoengineering.

“Students are drawn by the potential to work on global challenges with a tangible impact,” said Nikhil Jain, founder of ForeignAdmits.

He highlighted the evolving job market in these fields. “The industry now demands specialists who understand both traditional engineering and modern environmental challenges,” he said.

“With big data and AI entering areas like climate modelling and sustainable mining, companies need specialists who can handle these challenges. The compensation is attractive too — in the US, you’re looking at $85,000-150,000 annually and Australia offers AUD 90,000-130,000 for these roles.”