How Bangladeshi Students Spent Over Tk 82,000 Crore in a Single Year

In FY21, Bangladeshi families sent $263.86 million (Tk 22,375 crore at then-prevailing rates) overseas to fund their children's education abroad. By FY25, that figure had ballooned to $667.77 million — or roughly Tk 82,089 crore at today's exchange rate of Tk 122.90 per dollar. That represents a rise of 153% in four years, and it marks the highest single-year foreign education bill Bangladesh has ever recorded, according to data from Bangladesh Bank.

Over five fiscal years — FY21 through FY25 — Bangladeshi students collectively spent $2,433.63 million abroad on education. The total, converted at respective-year exchange rates, exceeds Tk 2,17,000 crore over half a decade. No single policy failure or economic shock explains the trend. The causes, experts and students say, are structural and generational, rooted in a domestic job market that offers dwindling returns on education and an increasingly unequal distribution of opportunity.

The Numbers at a Glance

The Bangladesh Bank data tracks education-related foreign currency outflows processed through formal banking channels. The year-on-year picture is stark:

BDT conversions use approximate year-end exchange rates: FY25 @ Tk 122.90/USD; FY24 @ Tk 119.50/USD; FY23 @ Tk 109.75/USD; FY22 @ Tk 86.30/USD; FY21 @ Tk 84.80/USD. Source: Bangladesh Bank.

The jump from FY21 to FY25 is not simply a function of more students travelling. Tuition fees have surged at destination universities, global inflation has driven up living costs, and the taka has depreciated sharply against the dollar — meaning each dollar of overseas spending now costs Bangladeshi families considerably more in taka than it did four years ago. A student sending home Tk 10 lakh in living expenses annually in 2021 needed their family to convert roughly $11,792 at the then-rate. The same Tk 10 lakh now requires only $8,137 — but real costs abroad have risen far faster than the taka has weakened, leaving families paying more in both currencies.

More Students, Higher Costs Per Student

The number of Bangladeshi students studying abroad has grown sharply over two decades. UNESCO's Global Flow of Tertiary Level Students data shows 8,739 students went abroad in 2000. By 2023, that number reached 76,328 — nearly nine times as many in twenty-three years. The acceleration since 2013 is particularly striking: just 37,332 students went abroad that year, rising to 76,328 by 2023, a doubling in a decade.

Even accounting for the larger student population, per-student spending has risen. Bangladesh Bank's transaction data shows FY21's 44,407 banking transactions averaged roughly $5,940 each. By FY25, 109,290 transactions averaged around $6,110 each — and this excludes money routed through informal channels or carried personally by students and families, meaning the true figure is likely higher.

Kazi Hamid, Executive Director of a Dhaka-based education consultancy, put the cost increase in concrete terms. "Annual tuition fees at universities such as the University of Technology Sydney used to range between AUD 20,000 and AUD 32,500 around 2015. By 2026, that figure has risen to nearly AUD 35,000 to AUD 55,000, depending on the programme," he told The Daily Campus.

He added that economic headwinds in popular destination countries have compounded the burden. "Countries like Canada, the United States, the UK, and several European nations are all experiencing economic pressure and job shortages. International students are now struggling more with living expenses and tuition fees than before — so students today often need to take significantly more money out of Bangladesh to sustain themselves."

Where Are They Going?

The United States tops the list of destinations. In 2023, 8,524 Bangladeshi students enrolled at American institutions — slightly below the 8,665 who did so in 2022. The United Kingdom attracted 6,586, Canada 5,835, Malaysia 5,714, and Germany 5,046. Together, these five countries absorbed more than half of the 52,799 students tracked in UNESCO's 2023 dataset.

Hamid noted a gradual diversification. "Previously, studying abroad was mostly something only wealthy families could afford, and they typically chose English-speaking countries. Now, many middle-class families are also making it possible for their children, and they are looking at more affordable options including South Korea, Denmark, Malaysia, and Sweden."

Japan has seen a particular spike in Bangladeshi interest. "Japanese language institutions have seen a huge rise in Bangladeshi applicants because of the wage structure there. Many Bangladeshi students in Japan are managing to pay their own tuition while also sending remittances back home," Hamid noted.

Why They Leave: A Job Market in Crisis

The financial data reflects a deeper dissatisfaction. Experts and students alike identify a broken domestic job market as the primary engine behind the outflow.

Dr. Monira Jahan, a professor at Jagannath University, identified recruitment dysfunction as a core issue. "After completing their studies, students face major difficulties in the job market. Sometimes 3,000 applicants compete for a single post, and many fail to secure jobs even after years of trying. Abroad, there are opportunities to work alongside studying — they can earn and learn simultaneously," she told The Daily Campus.

She also pointed to a fundamental mismatch in higher education. "Many subjects are not job-market-oriented. Students are not acquiring the skills the labour market demands. If education became more aligned with employment and if appropriate courses and programmes were developed, perhaps students would feel more encouraged to stay."

Dr. Jahan did not shy away from naming the subsidy paradox. "Education up to honours level is practically free here because the government subsidises it. But if students leave afterward, the country does not retain the benefit of that investment. In many other countries, students take loans for higher education and repay them after getting jobs. Here, what we provide is almost free — and then the talent leaves."

Mostofa Alam, a Bangladeshi student at the University of Pennsylvania, put the frustration plainly. "If I had stayed in Bangladesh, perhaps the best possible outcome for me would have been becoming a BCS cadre. But even an honest cadre officer cannot earn more than Tk 2 lakh a month. The process is long and highly competitive, and the ceiling is not high enough for our aspirations." He noted that even part-time work as an international student allows many to support families back home, something he doubts would have been possible had he remained in Bangladesh.

Safety, Freedom, and the Quality-of-Life Factor

For some students, the calculation is not purely economic. Safety and social stability have become significant factors in the post-2020 decision to study — and settle — abroad.

Saiyara Haque, studying at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, said the decision involved more than career planning. "Beyond education and jobs, I also wanted a sense of freedom and security in daily life, which I could not always feel back home. The fragile state of law enforcement, coupled with recent incidents of mob violence against women, students, and ordinary citizens, has been deeply unsettling. Staying abroad feels like a safer and more promising future."

Haque also described the upfront financial weight. "Many students receive scholarships, but initially they still need a large amount of money to make the move. I also had to bring money from Bangladesh that way. And the cost of education has increased significantly over the last few years."

A Generation Choosing to Leave

The wish to leave is not confined to those who can already afford to go. The British Council's Next Generation Bangladesh 2024 study found that 55% of Bangladeshis aged 18 to 35 want to migrate abroad. A 2018 BRAC survey had already found that 20% of youth wanted to move overseas for better lives and careers. The gap between those who want to leave and those who can afford to has shrunk as middle-class families increasingly stretch their finances to fund an overseas education.

Hamid captured the shift in aspiration: "A student once told me, 'Nobody wants to spend Tk 10 to 15 lakh on graduation only to secure a job that pays Tk 20,000 a month.' That is the arithmetic of disillusionment, and it is driving this trend as much as any visa policy or university ranking."

Educationists warn that the scale of outmigration carries consequences the foreign exchange figures alone do not show. When a student educated at a taxpayer-subsidised public university takes their skills to a foreign economy and settles there permanently, Bangladesh absorbs the cost and another country receives the return. The longer this continues at scale, the harder it becomes to build the domestic skilled workforce that sustained economic growth demands.

What Policy Could Do

Dr. Jahan pointed to several policy levers that could reduce the outflow. "The government needs to make education more market-oriented and connected to employment. If proper job opportunities were created and deserving people placed in deserving positions through fair and transparent recruitment, this tendency might decrease to some extent."

She emphasised the psychological dimension. "COVID caused students to lose almost two years, and many young people now carry a deep sense of instability. After graduating, many still cannot find jobs even after several years of trying. The government needs to address that uncertainty not just through job creation but through fairness in how opportunities are distributed. Honestly speaking, someone may study hard and attend interviews repeatedly but still fail to get opportunities. If assurance in recruitment could be ensured, this problem could be reduced."

Bangladesh Bank's data does not record where the students who leave ultimately settle. Some return; many do not. FY25's Tk 82,089 crore outflow is, in one sense, an investment by Bangladeshi families in futures they cannot find at home. Whether the country acts on the policy recommendations that experts have repeated for years — reforming recruitment, aligning curricula with market needs, restoring faith in meritocracy — will determine how many of those students eventually bring that investment back.

Data sources: Bangladesh Bank (FY21–FY25 foreign exchange outflows for education); UNESCO Global Flow of Tertiary Level Students 2023; British Council Next Generation Bangladesh 2024; BRAC Youth Survey 2018. Exchange rates: Bangladesh Bank annual averages and year-end figures.