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Looking to grow and diversify international student enrolments?

Global student mobility for the past thirty years relied on one country – China, which has been for decades the world’s largest sending country of international students, and – more recently – a recipient. 

In a shorter timespan, however, the economic and demographic weight of India also reflected a on international students numbers: Indian student visas already outnumber Chinese in Canada, and for the first time, in the UK, and growing fast in the US and Australia. 

Enrolments by destination

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. 14 countries make up half of all international student enrolments.

Only 54 countries (of over 200 countries) make up 80% of international student enrolments worldwide.

International student numbers are driven mainly by two countries: China and India. These two countries account for almost 30% of all international students abroad.  This share is not equally distributed, with main study destinations relying more heavily on the two countries.

The gap between past enrolments and current interest for 25 destinations

International enrolments are a significant part of classroom diversity, and traditionally reflect long-term ties between countries. International student interest, however, depicts a new and different picture.  

On top of the diversification ledger, western European countries are in a very favorable position: they are located in an interconnected network of different nationalities, with large expat communities, and often low-tuition fee programmes open to internationals. 

Notably, eastern European latecomers in internationalization are less diverse and more dependent on neighboring countries for their international student populations. They nevertheless attract a well diversified student interest on-par with other better known destinations. These countries are well positioned for expanding their outreach but need to establish themselves and define their brand as global study destinations.

Some destinations in the anglosphere, like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, are close to the bottom of the list in terms of the origin of their international student populations. Despite being world-known destinations offering world-class education, these countries are overly reliant on just a handful of origin countries.

Origins of international students for 25 destinations by past enrolments

Data insights to inform diversification strategies in HE

Origins of international student by enrolments

Key takeaways

Global student mobility for the past thirty years relied on one country – China, which has been for decades the world’s largest sending country of international students, and – more recently – a recipient.

In a shorter timespan, however, the economic and demographic weight of India also reflected on international students numbers: Indian student visas already outnumber Chinese in Canada, and for the first time, in the UK, and growing fast in the US and Australia.

Key takeaways

Origins of international student by enrolments

14 countries
make up half of all international student enrolments

Only 54 countries make up 80% of international student interest worldwide

30% of students abroad
come from China and India

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Diversify with Data: Insights for Higher Ed Institutions 

Past enrolments

Many of the origin countries with rising student interest share a common profile: young and mobile populations, and an appetite for high-quality higher education not yet matched by local institutions. While historically, more enrolments have come from a select group of countries, access to student loans, shifting demographics and broadening economies in emerging markets has created opportunities.  

Untapped demand 

Use the interactive map to know where international students are coming from

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.