June 4: Indian students are increasingly leaning on their own networks to decide where, what and whether to study abroad. In a new analysis of student conversations by Leap, South Asia’s largest AI-powered study-abroad ecosystem, references to friends, batchmates or colleagues already studying overseas appeared in 52% of conversations, making it the most common single theme in the dataset.
The finding points to a quieter shift in how decisions get made: alongside rankings and agents, real-world feedback from peers is now a routine part of how students discover, compare and shortlist destinations. The data captures how often peers were mentioned, not whether a specific referral drove the enquiry.
That peer-led discovery appears to be widening the study-abroad map. Two destinations outside the traditional US, UK and Canada core featured prominently:
Ireland appeared in 44% of conversations, frequently discussed alongside, and sometimes instead of, the UK. For comparison, the UK appeared in [X]% of conversations. Despite that level of interest, Ireland remains thinly covered in mainstream India-facing study-abroad content on universities, job prospects, living costs and work rights.
The UAE came up in 32% of conversations, either as a primary option or a comparison point. Notably, this was concentrated among working professionals and students from Gulf-based families weighing Dubai and the UAE as a career strategy, not simply as the closest option.
Established English-speaking destinations remained firmly in the picture. Australia featured in 39% of conversations, with students asking pointed questions about post-study work rights, permanent residency pathways and cost of living. Many also sought up-to-date information on recent changes to student work hours and visa conditions, a sign that students want current, practical guidance rather than evidence that they were misinformed.
New Zealand appeared in 29% of conversations, with similar questions on job markets, PR pathways and living costs, against a backdrop of limited India-specific resources.
Two further patterns stood out in how and when students plan:
The January intake is no longer a fallback. 21% of conversations referenced the January/winter cycle, either as a first choice or a feasibility question, suggesting the September-default calendar no longer reflects how a meaningful share of Indian students plan applications.
Decision support is the real need. In 41% of conversations, students were weighing one or more open questions: which country, which course, or whether to go at all. For a counselling audience, this is less a surprise than a description of the job to be done. These students are looking for frameworks to decide, not just answers.
Smaller but practically important themes included gap years, covering study, employment or career breaks, which students raised as a concern for their applications; prior rejections or visa refusals, which surfaced in 15% of conversations; and confusion over conditional versus unconditional offers, which appeared in 11% of conversations.
Taken together, the data suggests that Indian students are becoming more selective and outcome-led, drawing heavily on people they trust while reaching for destinations where published guidance has not fully caught up.
Methodology
This trend report is based on anonymised lead-generation and student-interest data from Leap’s internal database. The insights have been drawn from a relevant subset of students within Leap’s overall database of 1.1 million+ students, filtered based on the specific geography, time period, destination interest, course preference, and student behaviour patterns analysed for this report.
The data have been reviewed to identify directional shifts in study-abroad intent, emerging destination preferences, course-level demand, and student decision-making trends. The report is intended to provide a timely view of how Indian students are evaluating global education opportunities and the factors shaping their choices.
Disclaimer
All figures are based on Leap’s applicant pool and may not represent the entire Indian study abroad market. Trends and percentages are indicative and meant to provide directional insights. Individual outcomes vary based on profile, preparation, and circumstances.