The growing significance of Indonesia as a student recruitment market

Something is shifting in where Indonesian students want to study, and the data is starting to show it clearly.

Studyportals data tracking student interest since 2019 shows that relative demand from Indonesia dipped during the pandemic but has since bounced back strongly. By early 2026, Indonesian students represent a larger share of global study abroad interest than at any point in our data.

But where do they want to go? That’s where things get interesting.

The traditional heavyweights — the US, UK, Germany, and Australia — still attract a huge share of Indonesian interest. They’re not going anywhere. But all four are seeing year-over-year declines in demand, with the US and Germany taking the sharpest drops.

Meanwhile, other destinations are quietly picking up speed.

New Zealand is leading the pack, posting the strongest year-over-year growth in the data. Malaysia is also gaining — not surprising, given how close it is geographically and how familiar it feels culturally. Canada, China, and the Netherlands are all growing too.

Historically, Indonesian students have gravitated toward big English-speaking countries, with Germany as a notable non-Anglophone exception. The new demand signals suggest that picture is starting to change.

Why the shift? The data doesn’t say outright, but a few factors are likely in play: cost of living, visa difficulty, language, and just how realistic a destination feels right now. For many students, “attainable” may be edging out “prestigious” as the deciding factor.

For universities and policymakers, the message isn’t that the US or UK have lost their appeal. It’s that the next wave of Indonesian students may not be heading there by default — and that the real growth opportunities might be somewhere less obvious.