Every year, millions of secondary school graduates pack their bags for an international participation in tertiary education. According to UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics’ last observations, over 4 million students attend university outside their country of origin every year. Study abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, which comes along with cutting-edge curriculums, compelling international network and loads of glows and grows. Discover the top destination countries for higher education, and help your child build a shimmering future.
The top English-speaking tertiary education providers
The United States, United Kingdom and Australia host nearly 35% of total mobile students, with the United States being the most popular destination (19%), followed by the United Kingdom and Australia. The results come as no surprise, taking into account the reputation these countries have for academia, research and scholars. From eminent ivy-league institutions, such as Harvard, Stanford and Yale to UK's historical Oxbridge and Australia's competent University of Melbourne and National University, the first three countries on international students' preference list know their business inside out.
But where do the international students of USA, UK and Australia predominantly come from? The majority of USA's foreign learners are originated from China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada. UK universities also welcome undergraduates and graduates from all ends of the world with the most popular countries of origin being China, India, Nigeria, Malaysia and the United States. Australia absorbs students primarily from China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Influential education partakers: France, Germany and Russia
France, Germany and the Russian Federation are completing the image that shows where half of all mobile students go to study. Again, China is the biggest exporter of students to France, followed by the French-speaking nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Senegal. German universities are especially preferred by Chinese students, Russian, Austrian, Bulgarian and Polish. The Russian Federation is the only destination from this group of top destinations that isn't as popular among Chinese students. Instead, Kazakhs, Belarusian, Turkmens, Uzbeks and Azerbaijanis are its most common international students.
Emerging tertiary education providers
Fresh high school graduates and their families are looking into study abroad options for a variety of reasons -- learning a new language and practicing to adjust to an unknown culture, customs and etiquettes are only a few of them. With the rise of social media, young people are definitely more well informed nowadays, and hopefully more curious. This is a good time for non-traditional tertiary education destinations to take off. Thus, we are glad to observe that already established destinations are challenged by newcomers China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand, which together sum up to the 7% of the global share of mobile students.
At the same time, in the Arab World, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have become popular destinations for the students of the Middle East -- following France and the United States. But the Arab States aren't focusing merely on the students from the surrounding area -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Dubai are working hard to recruit students from all over the world. Thus, 4% of the global share of mobile students in 2013 went to these countries.
This tendency towards developing education hubs around the world can be also associated with the phenomenon of sprouting satellite or brunch campuses -- institutions that are located in a different country from the main university campus. Mauritius, even though it's a small and remote island in the Indian Ocean, is committed to become a “knowledge hub”. It currently hosts international students from over 30 different countries in its brunch campuses of Medine Education Village, Middlesex University, Aberystwyth University or the African Leadership University.
