New data comparing online search demand in late 2025 and early 2026 has shown declining demand for master’s degrees in the US, UK and Canada, while New Zealand, India and Sweden recorded soaring growth in relative demand.
Alongside the continued broadening of search beyond the ‘big four’, the figures from Keystone Education Group show rising interest in regional and local options.
“The second-fastest growing destination in search is India, and we know that a lot of this is driven by Indian students themselves,” said Mark Bennett, Keystone’s VP of research and insight.
“It’s a surprise, but perhaps it shouldn’t be in a world in which traditional ‘source’ countries are keen to retain talent within their own higher education systems, where TNE is more of a strategic focus and, of course, where policy and financial barriers impede traditional study abroad journeys.”
Notably, the above search data excludes search from domestic students. It is drawn from over 350,000 total searches in each time period.
The striking growth in interest for New Zealand shows audiences are picking up on the country’s sustained positive messaging around international education and post-study work, said Bennett, with the government set to launch a new graduate work visa later this year.
For Indian students specifically, interest in India increased by a whopping 94% while the UK held steady with a modest 2% rise.
The picture was more complicated for Canada (-6%), the US (-37%) and Australia (-42%), with significant drops in the latter two destinations reflecting policy turbulence and declining visa approvals hampering US and Australian offers.
In the US, the data reinforces recent figures from IIE’s 2026 spring snapshot, which found that 61% of American colleges recorded a fall in Indian applications for the 2026/27 academic year.
Experts have said visa uncertainty is driving the trend, with US study visa issuance to Indian students plummeting by 62% last year.
Meanwhile, Indian students are particularly sensitive to changes to post-study work opportunities, with Bennett highlighting the impact of continued uncertainty over Optional Practical Training (OPT) on the appeal of the US.
Indian students, who made up nearly one third of America’s total international student body in 2024/25, comprised just under half of all OPT participants.
Traditional ‘source’ countries are keen to retain talent within their own higher education systems
Mark Bennett, Keystone Education Group
Elsewhere, Bennett said the 4% demand drop for the UK was likely due to the government’s shortening of the graduate route and “ongoing stories of visa refusals and withdrawals”.
It comes as UK home office data saw the worst May of the post-Covid period for study visa issuance, with the number of visas issued in Q1 2026 down by nearly a third compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, despite a decline in Indian student interest in Australia, overall demand for the destination grew after a “poor” 2025, said Bennett, while interest in Canada steadied off.
The emergence of India as an education hub rather than sole sending market has been driven by the government’s National Education Policy 2020, opening the door to an influx of branch campuses and TNE ventures in the country.
Last week, Prime Minister Naarendra Modi visited Australia as it was revealed that Flinders University would become the latest to open a branch campus in Bengaluru, India.
