Nearly 550,000 Nepalis going abroad on student visas in six years should elicit a difficult question: What is pushing so many to fly thousands of miles away to other countries? It is not simply because students want a foreign degree. As Nepalis go abroad, many for relatively short periods, some have gone to find jobs, earn income and secure a higher, more stable standard of living. This, however, has made matters worse at home and serves as a warning for the nation’s future. Between FY 2020/21 and 2025/26, 548,717 Nepalis received No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to study in 83 different countries. The figures jumped dramatically after the Covid-19 period, from only 27,211 in 2020/21 to over 91,000 in 2021/22, and crossed 100,000 annually thereafter, reaching 117,805 in 2024/25. While these volumes do not represent the exact number of students migrating because some acquire NOCs repeatedly, the trend is clear. Japan has now surpassed Australia in popularity. Over the five-year period, 156,407 NOCs were issued for Japan, compared with 127,916 for Australia. The United Kingdom was next, with 75,927, followed by Canada with 42,870 and South Korea with 33,871. The number of NOCs issued for Japan grew from about 19 percent of Nepal’s total NOCs in 2022/23 to over 30 percent in 2023/24. The trend demonstrates changes in immigration policies, greater job opportunities, better-paying job markets, affordability, and the appeal of working while studying in other countries. The monetary impact is also noteworthy. During the period, Nepali students spent close to Rs 556.68 billion on foreign education.
Yearly outflow of remittances increased from Rs 24.95 billion in 2020/21 to Rs 67.7 billion in 2021/22, then to Rs 100.42 billion in 2022/23 and Rs 138.48 billion in 2024/25. The outflow possibly touched close to Rs 100 billion in 2025/26, which is no doubt sizable for an economy that has found it difficult to garner foreign exchange. Yet money is only one part of the loss. Nepal is sending out a large number of its young, educated and economically active population at precisely the stage when the country needs them most. Universities face declining enrolment in some programs while education consultancies remain crowded. This is a troubling contradiction: the country has been producing students but has increasingly been failing to retain them. Such a large exodus of Nepali youth abroad is caused by several deeper problems at home. Irregular academic calendars, weak university education, limited research, political interference, poor links between education, jobs and industry, and a shortage of decent jobs have made foreign education look like a lucrative opportunity for young people. When a student believes that a foreign degree also offers a greater chance of employment and permanent economic security, asking that student to stay at home becomes difficult.
The government, however, cannot restrict students from studying overseas. Such restrictions would address the symptom, not the cause. There are certain ways to address the issue. In the short term, authorities should improve university calendars, expand employment-oriented courses, strengthen career counselling, regulate education consultancies, and publish reliable information about costs, job prospects and migration risks. Universities should work directly with industries so that degrees provide the skills employers actually need. The long-term task is harder, though. Nepal must create jobs, expand private investment, improve research and innovation, modernise higher education, and build an economy in which skilled young people can see a future at home. Going abroad is not the problem. A country that makes young people feel that leaving for foreign shores is necessary is the real problem. Nepal cannot legally stop its youth from seeking opportunities abroad. But it can create enough opportunities at home to make staying, pursuing education and finding jobs here an equally attractive choice. Otherwise, Nepal will continue to face a shortage of its youth workforce—the human capital of a nation on which its future well-being depends.Nepal travel guide
