India woos Bhutanese students, youth

According to All India Surveys of Higher Education (AISHE), the number of Bhutanese students receiving tertiary education in India declined from 2,468 in 2012-13 to 1,827 in 2020-21, accounting for just 3.8% of all international students from 7% a decade ago, according to data from the Union ministry of education.

The development has major strategic implications, considering that education and people-to-people ties have long buttressed India’s relationship with Bhutan. Most senior members of Bhutan’s governing elite have studied in Indian educational institutions.

“Economic opportunities, negligible visa restrictions, regular training programmes, education opportunities, and Buddhist tourism and education have bolstered people-to-people relations between India and Bhutan for generations,” said Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, a scholar at the Observer Research Foundation, in a recent article on Bhutan’s migration trends and policies.

The government is taking steps to make it attractive for the youth from Bhutan to study in India, including increasing opportunities for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) subjects, and making it easier for them to work in India’s startup sector, said a person, seeking anonymity. Vocational training will also be a key focus for the Bhutanese youth, he added.

Foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the countries were discussing the possibilities to increase access to Indian institutes. “There is no change in terms of access and availability of the Indian education system to our partner countries in our neighbourhood and to their people, not just in terms of their presence here, but also in terms of the continuing national treatment that they get here. Which destination they choose, of course, is always an evolving feature in terms of what happens within that society,” he said at a press briefing in New Delhi on Friday.

According to the Australian education ministry, the number of Bhutanese students has shot up to 3,863 in 2023, up 142% from a year ago, growing at a faster clip than any international student community.

“Push factors in Bhutan, combined with better standards of life, economic opportunities, relaxed work hours, and education opportunities in Australia has attracted several Bhutanese in recent years. In 2021, the Australian census indicated that over 12,000 Bhutanese stayed in Australia. The migration trend has largely increased in recent years, coinciding with Bhutan’s attempt to open to the international labour market,” Shivamurthy said in the article.