The Foreign Education Business Boom in Developing Countries

When I returned to Sri Lanka after four years, I expected the experience to be different from the last time I visited. Sri Lanka has encountered a series of economic catastrophes that has mainly been the fault of the government, leaving working-class people unable to cover basic necessities. In the meantime, the top 20 percent of Sri Lankans continue to live comfortably, if not get richer, according to French economist and professor Thomas Piketty’s thesis on inequality. As Western-centric news coverage pervades, the economic and political situation in Sri Lanka gets drowned out by the next big news story. The little media attention that Sri Lanka does receive has only covered how living in Sri Lanka has become too expensive for the average person. While life for Sri Lanka’s poor has changed drastically, its upper middle class is also scrambling to maintain their generational wealth. This starts with receiving a college degree to ensure job security. Since the government of Sri Lanka hasn’t made any meaningful efforts toward economic recovery, parents of college-aged children have turned to a new solution: educating their children abroad. As middle and upper-class families in Sri Lanka feel they have no option but to give their children a private college education abroad, they are also victims, to a lesser extent, of the elaborate methods of corruption by Sri Lankan political figures and unintentionally continue a hopeless cycle of economic stagnation.

The boom in foreign education has become apparent in the last three years. Because of this, we could certainly draw connections between the current socioeconomic state of the country and the hard decisions many students are making. According to the International College of Economics and Finance monitor there were over 5,000 Sri Lankans in Canada in 2022, most of whom were given visas to Canada to attend colleges or universities, which was a 94 percent increase from the previous year. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, there were only 875 Sri Lankans in Canadian colleges or universities in 2020. The mass exodus can be attributed to the students looking to start fresh without “wasting” time in Sri Lanka, where their futures lie uncertain. Western countries, with centuries of stability, have well-paved paths for immigrants to follow. In the eyes of Sri Lankans, a comfortable life is essentially guaranteed in these countries once they have earned their degree.

Tensions between the people and the presidential family came to a boiling point in March 2022 as reports found that Sri Lanka was in massive debt and needed to be continually bailed out by the International Monetary Fund and neighboring countries. The overall future of the country was uncertain. Moreover, as the number of U.S. dollars in the national reserve plummeted, so did Sri Lanka’s credibility. Students who were planning on taking their college entrance exams, known as the A-levels, were unable to because the government did not have enough money to afford paper or ink. For the fortunate families of A-level students, a Sri Lankan state education became a risky gamble. As the Sri Lankan cost of living rose, affluent Sri Lankans realized that they would have to work overseas to maintain their lifestyle. However, after Sri Lanka’s credibility declined, employers started recognizing Sri Lankan degrees even less. So instead of waiting to get a state education, even after which they’d still be unsure if they could make ends meet, many college-aged students have poured into foreign universities, where they hope they can support themselves with a job in that country or back in Sri Lanka. 

It is important to note, however, that students have been getting foreign educations for decades now. According to the Migration Policy Institute, there were only 26,000 foreign students enrolled in U.S. universities in the 1949-50 school year. The number roughly doubled every decade, and there were 286,000 students in the 1979-80 school year, compared to the record high of 1.1 million students in the 2019-20 school year. Many of these students ended up settling in the U.S., as they were able to find jobs with their American degrees. While the current situation is due to economic and political instability, students in the past may have been motivated by the hopes of advancing their careers or seeking out a merit-based system. 

Meanwhile, immigrants who get an education in their country of origin are often required to pay for additional years of schooling, especially for jobs in the medical field. When time spent in school equates to time that can’t be used to make money, the learning requirement becomes a large net loss as students accumulate debt they could have avoided if they had invested the resources for just one foreign degree. 

All in all, if a family has the resources to send their children abroad, there are very few reasons not to. But for families who are tighter on money, a foreign education can take a large chunk of their yearly income. What’s more is that tuition is usually paid in U.S. dollars, which went from being worth about 180 rupees to 368.5 rupees at its peak. As families are burdened by these additional expenses, they are unable to spend the extra money to refuel the Sri Lankan economy. Without any economic stimulus, prices remain high, and life does not change for those most in need.  

What’s more is that because the Sri Lankan economy cannot budge, the government has proposed a plan of “Domestic Debt restructuring,” which critics pointed out is “forcing the poor to pay the debt of the rich.” What this means is that the people who already are unable to feed their families are looking toward the inexplicable poverty of the masses. This happens as government officials continue to live in untouchable luxury, seemingly unaware of the suffering of their people. In fact, they do not even appear to be suffering even a fraction of what most of the country is. Because of this, I believe blaming the wealthy parents who are sending their children abroad is unproductive. They are doing everything in their power to secure a better future for their children. Sri Lanka’s economic woes are not because of societal issues, but governmental and political problems rooted in corruption that exacerbate societal inequalities. 

There isn’t much that the Sri Lankan people can do except to try to stop the circus the government is running. Yet, there is some hope: the democratic process. Even though the current president is firmly against it, there should be a presidential election in 2024. Public opinion has changed since the last election, and Sri Lanka could use new leadership, if not a new system. However, if it is going to happen, the people must push for it. 

The families of college-aged students are in a sticky situation. While it is unfortunate that they have to spend a great sum of money to educate their children, and by doing so, they are hurting the economy of Sri Lanka, it is ultimately not their fault. As parents, they are trying to secure the best future for their children with the resources that they have. I understand the tough decision that these parents have to make, but my heart goes out mostly to those who don’t have the resources to spend on a private education. I worry for their future educations and careers and fear that the only possible solution to their woes is in the hands of the government. The money spent on all those degrees is now irreversible. The only thing that can be done is to make changes in Sri Lanka so that one day, those foreign students may want to come back to their home country.