Despite war clouds, Indian students make up largest share of foreign students in Israel

Indian students flock to Israel for higher studies, with academic collaboration and research opportunities driving the trend.

Amid the clouds of war over West Asia, Israel is one of the favourite destinations for Indian students to pursue higher studies.

The Ministry of External Affairs had estimated the number of Indian students in Israel at 1,218 in 2022. However, data compiled by Israeli authorities after the COVID-19 outbreak put the number of students enrolled in Israeli universities at 1,691 during academic year 2021–22.

The official Israeli data reveal that Indian students make up the biggest share in the foreign students category, surpassing China, which stands second with 842 students. India had officially estimated the number of students abroad at 13.24 lakh in 2022.

According to Bureau of Immigration statistics, the number of Indian students who went abroad was 7.5 lakh in 2022 and 4.44 lakh in 2021.

According to Tammy Ben-Haim, Consul General of Israel to South India, the good academic cooperation between Indian and Israeli scientists and the willingness of both countries to foster academic exchange and research collaboration play a pivotal role in attracting Indian students to Israel.

“We have an Israeli Professor coming to teach at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) this July. We are in talks to have a centre of excellence on water with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M). An Israeli delegation will be visiting IIT-M in August to attend a seminar, and many Israeli companies have expressed interest in the programme,” says the source.

A good number of students who study at institutes and universities in Israel are pursuing doctoral and post-doctoral studies. In 2022, 47.9% of foreign post-doctoral fellows in Israel were from India, while those from China were only 9.6%.