New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS): As international borders reopen with the Covid situation easing, studying abroad is set to grow in the coming years and according to new forecast, over 18 lakh Indian students are set to opt for foreign colleges and universities by 2024.

While the demand for studying abroad is increasing and the outflow is also increasing, student expenditure is soaring and is likely to touch $75-85 billion by 2024, which will be an increase of more than 2 times from 2019.

While the sector faced a stunted growth in 2020-21 as international borders were closed to combat Covid, it is now expected to regain momentum as things become normal, according to the report by Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer.

"We are bullish about this segment's growth in the coming years. Our research shows that the total number of Indian students studying abroad will stand at around 18 lakh by 2024," said Abhishek Gupta, engagement manager at RedSeer.

Nearly 7,00,000 students applied to study abroad in 2019.

"In 2019 alone, around 420k students headed out but the total number of applicants was around 1.7 times. This colossal increase is due to factors like rise in GDP in the past two decades leading to more consumption and awareness about education abroad," Gupta mentioned.

The growth in the outflow rates had outpaced domestic student growth by 6 times in 2016-19 which shows the massive demand that this segment is witnessing.

"Our research shows that currently, 770k Indian students are studying abroad from 440K in 2016 which is a 20 per cent growth. On the other hand, the growth in the domestic region has been merely 3 per cent when compared to the demand for education abroad," the analyst informed.