'We used to get 400-500 applications for Canada on a yearly basis until last year, but this has gone down to just 70 this year.'
The recent diplomatic standoff between India and Canada is likely to further impact the students' interest to pursue higher education in the North American country, which was already on wane for some time now.
Career counsellors say that students' interest in Canada as an education destination has reduced drastically recently.
"We used to get 400-500 applications for Canada on a yearly basis until last year, but this has gone down to just 70 this year, that too only for the premium universities. The bulk of students who used to go to Canada -- in the mid-ranked colleges -- have stopped showing that interest," said Adarsh Khandelwal, founder and CEO, Collegify, a college admission service provider.
At the undergraduate level, parents are the ultimate decision maker and such tensions impact that, Khandelwal said, adding that rising living costs and the falling quality of opportunities in the country has also led to this downfall.
Jitin Chawla, career counsellor at Centre for Career Development in Delhi, agreed.
"The choices have vastly changed in the last few years and more students are looking at options like The Netherlands, Finland and Japan for the benefits and stability these countries offer.
"International travel, too, is also prone to geo-political issues and natural calamities."
Hari Ganapathy, co-founder, Pickyourtrail, an online travel company, pointed out, "The recent incidents have surely set up a flurry of search queries given the unknown nature of the next steps and people want to keep their options ready.
"People plan holidays to have a hassle-free experience."
Data from the ministry of external affairs suggests that the absolute number of students going to the country increased from 216,360 in 2021 to 427,085 in 2023.
"For those who are traveling to meet friends and relatives, and already have visas, there would not be much impact, but new tourists now wanting visas would be impacted," said Anil Kalsi, alternate board member, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospital-ity and vice president of Travel Agents Federation of India.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
