David L. Di Maria is the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s assistant vice provost for international education.
India is up. China is falling. In the first year of the pandemic, very few American students studied overseas.
The U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education jointly issued these three points on November 14, 2022, as major findings from recent statistics.
Every year at the beginning of International Education Week, the “Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange” is issued. It gives comprehensive information about study abroad and international students.
Increase in virtual overseas studies
The 2020-2021 academic year saw a 91% reduction in the total number of American students who studied abroad, according to a report released this year. The pandemic also prompted colleges to expand their online global education offerings. In fact, 62% of institutions offered virtual internships with multinational corporations, online collaborative courses with students abroad, and other experiences.
Virtual learning cannot replace the intensive experiences of study abroad, but it can give more students access to diverse cultures and worldwide viewpoints. As a result, technology is expected to remain an integral component of international education programming.
In the United States, the number of international students is increasing.
While the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a 45.6% reduction in new international students in 2020, the most recent statistics covering the academic year 2021-2022 suggests that the total number of international students in the U.S. has begun to rebound to 948,519 students. This is evidenced by a 3.8% growth from the 914,095 international students in the United States in 2020. Nonetheless, the amount is considerably less than the almost 1.1 million international students reported for 2018. Much of the current gain is attributable to an increase in the number of new international students – 261,961 – which is up 80% from 2020’s 145,528 but still 2.14% below 2019’s 267,713.
Students from China and India account for more than half of all international students, or 52%. It is noteworthy that during the 2021-2022 academic year, Chinese student enrollment decreased by 9 percent, while Indian student enrollment climbed by 19 percent over the previous year. This has significant ramifications for the international diversity of colleges in the United States. This is due to the fact that Chinese students enroll in a variety of majors, but the majority of Indian students (66.4%) enroll in only a few programs: engineering, mathematics, and computer science.
deteriorating ties with China
During the previous decade, institutions in the United States enrolled more Chinese students than students from any other country. While the global epidemic largely ended travel between China and the United States as a result of airline bans and mass lockdowns, the fall in Chinese enrolment began years earlier.
Contributing factors include Chinese parents’ fears regarding their children’s safety in the United States, the growth of China’s own world-class colleges, and deteriorating relations between the two nations, which have impacted the higher education industry. In 2019, China’s Ministry of Education urged students against studying in the United States owing to the possibility of visa issues.
College and careers entice many Indians to leave the country.
China and India each have approximately 1.4 billion inhabitants, but the United Nations projects that by 2023, India will surpass China as the world’s most populated nation. This sustained development will pressure India’s higher education system, resulting in an increase in the number of students pursuing advanced degrees abroad. At the same time, low job prospects in India are compelling many youngsters to pursue academic and career opportunities abroad. This is especially true in high-paying, fast-growing sectors such as information technology and computer science.
A shift in tone on the side of the U.S. administration is another element leading to the increase from India. By reversing Trump-era immigration regulations, the Biden administration is seeking to rebuild the U.S. as a welcome destination for international students. These rules caused overseas students anxiety and worry. Additionally, the Biden administration has prioritized the processing of Indian student visas.
Looking forward
More than 600 U.S. colleges and institutions responded to the Institute of International Education’s Fall 2022 Snapshot Survey. The data indicate a 7 percent increase in the enrollment of new international students.
While the U.S. Department of State continues to prioritize student visas in India by hiring more employees and streamlining the process, Chinese visa approvals are trending lower than in previous years for reasons that are difficult to explain. A further fall in Chinese students poses significant issues for the United States, its colleges, and their host communities. In addition to the US$32 billion that international students collectively contribute to the U.S. economy, the friendships and cultural insights they develop while attending local colleges promote U.S. foreign policy by fostering positive relations between the U.S. and other nations.
As the number of college students in much of the United States is projected to decline, college recruiters will increase their outreach to international students in order to fill empty seats. However, it remains to be seen whether international student recruiting alone can fill these unfilled seats.