According to the FT, Indian students are deterred from studying and working in the US by President Trump’s pledge to tighten immigration controls, including reforming the H-1B work visa for highly skilled foreign workers. The other popular destination, the UK, faces a similar rejection due its decision to leave the European Union.

Indian students have been popular with business schools worldwide with university data showing that Indians, more than any other nationalities, remain to work after graduation in the countries where they study.

The beneficiary of the US and UK exodus seems to be Canada according to the FT. Canada’s visa system permits students to stay and work for up to three years after graduation whether or not they have a job at that time.

Canada however still struggles with its image and branding. No Canadian business schools are currently ranked in the top 50 by the Financial Times. Rotman is the highest listed at 65, Western University’s Ivey and Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business are ranked at 94 and 100 respectively. Nine of the top 15 schools are in the US.

Matt Symonds, director of Fortuna Admissions, an MBA applicant adviser, told the FT  that the US government’s toughened stance on immigration has changed the way Indian students feel about American schools. “Many of his Indian clients switched choices the day after the US presidential election,” the article states. Since the election the number of Indian students interested in Canadian business schools, mainly Rotman, McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal and University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business has increased to 16 per cent. Before the election (between January and November 2016) only 4 per cent of Indian students voiced interest in Canada as an MBA destination.

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