Study abroad has been picking up pace over the past few years, and the fastest growth is happening in one place. According to the IIE Open Doors latest report, 57% of international students in the US studied a STEM subject in 2024/25, with maths and computer science accounting for 26% and engineering at 18%. With India remaining the largest sender of international students to the US, maths and computer science has overtaken every other field to become the single largest area of study for international students in the country.
Applicants preparing to start courses in 2026 are increasingly choosing artificial intelligence, data science and business analytics programmes over the general management degrees that once dominated postgraduate applications. Many are also weighing how far artificial intelligence itself is reshaping which subjects will matter in a decade, a calculation now stretching even into fields once seen as purely creative, as students look for ways to build AI literacy into degrees that were never designed around it.
Ms. Sonal Kapoor, Global Chief Business Officer at Prodigy Finance, says the pattern has become far more visible with the latest round of application data. “Five years ago, an MBA was the default choice for almost every international applicant we spoke to,”. “Now we’re seeing far more students apply for a master’s in AI, or a data science or analytics programme, sometimes alongside a general management degree rather than instead of it. Students are building a technical skill set first and layering business strategy on top, rather than the other way round.”
Environmental science, Health care and Public policy courses are also drawing more interest than in previous intakes, Kapoor adds, as students weigh long-term career resilience alongside salary. “We’re hearing from applicants who want a qualification that still matters in fifteen years, not just one that pays well the year they graduate. That’s pushing some toward climate and energy programmes that barely existed as standalone master’s degrees a decade ago.
MBA in Business and Administration, Computer Science and IT, and Engineering and Technology are all seeing strong growth at postgraduate level, particularly among students from India and Africa. Sonal says the pattern is clear. Students no longer want to choose between a general education and a technical one because the job market is demanding both. The Class of 2026 students supported by Prodigy Finance have grown up watching this shift happen right in front of them. They have seen family members lose jobs to AI, watched their local grocery move to an app, and lived through a pandemic that pushed everything digital almost overnight. They are not willing to be left behind. A degree that combines business thinking with technical skills is not a nice-to-have for this generation. It is the plan.
Getting into a technical master’s degree remains one of the biggest financial hurdles students face. Many AI and data science programmes now carry tuition costs on par with or above a traditional MBA, and for Indian students the rupee is not helping. According to the Reserve Bank of India, the reference rate for the dollar stood above 95 rupees in July 2026, a significantly weaker position than many families budgeted for.
Sonal adds that most students bridge the gap through family savings, scholarships, and international lenders. “At Prodigy Finance, we assess students on future earning potential rather than requiring a cosigner or collateral. When you look at what students are actually applying to study, you get an honest picture of the future they are preparing for. Right now that picture has AI, data and sustainability at the centre of it and we expect that to hold through the rest of this admissions cycle and well beyond.”
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