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Benchmarking diversification 

The need to diversify is now greater than ever before as universities, competing globally,  can no longer afford to be reliant on just a few source countries for their international student bodies.

This report gives you a snapshot of the handful of countries that make up most international student enrolments by destination. It also identifies the core audiences per destination – these are the origin countries that make up 80% of student interest on Studyportals. 

This can help institutions: 

• Reduce reliance on a handful of source countries.

• Have all relevant origin countries on their radars by understanding the core audience per study destination.

• Understand  their diversification position relative to other institutions in a country, and globally. 

• Benchmark how diverse their student body really is compared to the audience of potential students.

• Uncover risk and opportunity areas. 
  
  

What is the current state of international student mobility?

Most of international students are recruited from just a handful of countries. Many institutions are overly-reliant on too few source countries for international students. 

Institutions should have all relevant origin countries on their radars by understanding this core audience.

Which countries make up the core audiences for international study programmes by destination?

Benchmarking against peers and/or competitors can also help you set the right objectives for your internationalisation or diversification strategy.

How are core audiences affected by institution type?

Enrolments by destination

Benchmarking geographic diversification 

The need to diversify is now greater than ever before as universities, competing globally,  can no longer afford to be reliant on just a few source countries for their international student bodies. To discover opportunities and transform international targets in actionable ways, three key questions need answers: what is the current state of international student mobility? Which countries make up the core audiences for international study programmes by destination? How are core audiences affected by institution type?

Don't guess which markets your institution still has room to grow in. Act on insights.

Benchmarking against peers and/or competitors can also help you set the right objectives for your internationalisation or diversification strategy.

Most of international students are recruited from just a handful of countries. Many institutions are overly-reliant on too few source countries for international students. 

Institutions should have all relevant origin countries on their radars by understanding this core audience.

How are core audiences affected by institution type?

Which countries make up the core audiences for international study programmes by destination?

What is the current state of international student mobility?

About Studyportals

Studyportals is your partner for truly global, fully digital and direct-to-student recruitment.
 
We work closely with universities and other HEd institutions around the world to guarantee their ROI based on result-based services focused on growing and optimising student recruitment efforts.

52 million

250,000+

3,750+

Educational institutes across 110 countries 

Degrees to be explored on our portal by students worldwide 

Yearly student visitors on our education choice platform

Interested in learning how Studyportals can assist with international student recruitment?

To discover opportunities and transform international targets in actionable ways, this report answers 3 questions: 

Data insights to inform diversification strategies in HE

To discover opportunities and transform international targets in actionable ways, this report answers 3 questions: 

Diversify with Data: Insights for Higher Ed Institutions 

We relied on estimates from UNESCO and OECD to present a coherent, global picture of student mobility based on past enrolments. These numbers are descriptive of historical ties and of long-term student flows. They are also somewhat difficult to cross check with national databases despite great efforts in standardizing the definition of an international student. In preparing the data we took the latest measurement available per country. Note that some data such as the number of outbound international students from Nigeria is unavailable, and UNESCO uses estimates of these figures.  

UNESCO do not differentiate by language of instruction: International education and international English-taught education are accounted together.

Methodology: About the data

Studyportals has the scope of 52 million users and the granular detail of measuring student behavior by number and type of page views. This allows us to analyse which countries make up the core audience (80% of interest from international students). Note that data from China is absent due to internet restrictions in that country.   

Studyportals tracks interest in English-taught programmes around the world. Approximately 90% of English-taught programmes are listed, making Studyportals the most comprehensive listing of these programmes in the world. This analysis plots the core audiences for on-campus, English–taught, Bachelor's and Master's programmes for the top 25 study destinations on Studyportals.  

Because student behavior on Studyportals is forward-looking, this can give us insights into what the future holds. A strong correlation between Studyportals data and enrolments 12-24 months into the future has been established repeatedly. Analysing changes in millions of pageviews over time can give an indication of future growth prospects and emerging trends in student recruitment. 

January 2023. . Authors: Jacopo Gutterer and Cara Skikne