Nepal as a source market
In today’s competitive global education market, identifying emerging source countries for international students is a priority for institutions aiming to diversify their campuses and attract top talent. Nepal, with its deep commitment to education and a growing hunger for international exposure, is rapidly emerging as a key market for student recruitment. Despite its size in relation to other source markets in South Asia, Nepal boasts a highly motivated student audience eager to study abroad, driven by factors such as limited domestic opportunities in specialised fields, a desire for global academic recognition, and aspirations for improved career prospects.
Based on Studyportals data from the past 24 months, Nepalese students rank 14th globally in terms of demand for on-campus, English-taught Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. When assessed by study level, then there has been steady growth in demand from Nepal since September 2022, with a particularly strong preference for Master’s level studies (+42.3%), reflecting the increasing aspirations of Nepalese students for advanced education abroad.
Recently, there has been a noticeable decline in the relative demand from Nepalese students for traditional study destinations like Canada, Australia, and the UK. This shift is likely due to tighter immigration policies in these countries, particularly those limiting the number of international students, their dependents, and efforts to prevent visa misuse. In contrast, countries such as New Zealand, the US, Denmark, and Austria have experienced a surge in interest from Nepalese students. This shift in relative demand is likely attributed to more positive student visa approval rates, fewer financial barriers, and more favourable regulations around part-time work and post-study employment opportunities.
Not only is Nepal’s demand for education shifting geographically in terms of international destinations, but within Nepal, certain cities are also becoming key hubs for student interest. For instance, it is clear that students based in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, produce the bulk of demand to study abroad. Despite this finding, it is worth noting that Kathmandu acts as a central hub for Nepal’s internet traffic, meaning data from across the country often passes through the city before reaching the web. As a result, internet traffic from other parts of Nepal can still look like it’s coming from Kathmandu due to the way it’s routed. Beyond this, other promising locations include Pokhara, Kaski, Biratnagar Bhaktapur, and Parsa.
The subject areas that have been of most interest to prospective Nepalese students over the last 12 months fall within the Agriculture and Environmental Studies disciplines. These areas contain popular fields such as Environmental Sciences or Sustainable Development, but also niche fields like Horticulture and Crop Science, Food Technology, and Animal Science, each of which have seen rising demand from Nepal. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Nepal’s Agriculture sector employs an estimated 66% of the country’s population, and contributes to a third of its GDP that ranges from small business to large-scale farming. In relation to this, the country’s ecosystem is deemed fragile and subject to various environmental challenges such as soil erosion, deforestation, flooding, and water scarcity, hence why sustainability is a core focus of domestic policies.
In relation to the demand produced by Nepalese students, it is important to consider that the share of 15-24 year olds is projected to drop, going from a 21% share of the total population in 2022 to 17.5% by 2030.
The average household income in Nepal is forecasted to rise to approximately $7,000 by 2030, the number of households holding an income of between $35,000 and $70,000 will nearly double from 2022 numbers (11.6K).
All this aside, it remains true that Nepal is a highly mobile market, sending the largest volume of outbound students (89K) after India (508K).
Data from the University Grants Commission (UGC), an independent body that oversees Nepalese higher education institutions, indicates that although the number of Nepalese students enrolled in tertiary education grew for the 2021/2022 cohort compared to 2016/2017, there has been a gradual year-over-year decline in students since 2019. One reason behind this is that Nepalese students seek to study abroad so as to attain permanent residency in developed economies, alongside a saturated labour market that has struggled to employ the more than 400K graduates emerging from domestic institutions which only tightened following the COVID pandemic.
As Nepal continues to send increasing numbers of students abroad, educational institutions looking to tap into this market must understand the motivations and barriers these students face. By offering tailored programmes, flexible financial options, and pathways to global careers, institutions can attract the best of Nepal’s highly motivated student population.