Where Pakistani students go abroad

Approximately one out of every eight Pakistanis around the age of 30 has at least some college education. This number is not particularly impressive, but it is higher than most people might assume it is. Of those with a college education, about one in 25 – about 4.2% to be precise – have at least one degree from a college or university outside Pakistan.

Pakistani students are not yet a major force on the world stage – certainly not when compared to our neighbours in India and China which currently have 1.8 million and 1 million students outside their home countries respectively. But roughly 115,000 Pakistanis are studying abroad and while they are fewer in number than students from other countries, they represent a significant proportion of the country’s human capital, and in an emigration-obsessed country like Pakistan, they are also often the people most likely to become high-earning expatriates.

This is the story of Pakistani higher education more broadly, but specifically that of Pakistanis who are able to make the choice to go abroad for either their undergraduate or, more commonly, their postgraduate degrees. The patterns of where they have decided to go have shifted over the past several decades, responding largely to the dictates of foreign countries’ visa and immigration policies. 

The attraction of a foreign degree is obvious: you get easier access to the ability to move to a foreign country, acquire an educational or professional credential from that same country, spend a few years building a network and acclimating yourself to that country, and then eventually applying for jobs there, directly landing into its middle or upper middle class.

If you are an 18-year-old A level or Intermediate student, or if you are a young professional under the age of 25 considering where to go for a postgraduate education, you may hope to join those who have made this leap in the past. The data we share here may help inform your decision-making process as you weigh your options.

First, we examine the state of higher education within Pakistan. We then examine where Pakistanis are going abroad, and what factors have been influencing their decisions, examining the major emigration destinations separately. Finally, we get to the more important question of: if you are a Pakistani in the position of trying to go abroad for an education, how should you make that decision?