The Covid-19 crisis has impacted businesses, economies, and students who were planning their studies abroad. Some countries have marked a decrease in the number of international students this year, and one of the key factors was related to the pandemic consequences, due to closing borders, inflation, cancellation of scholarships, and, currently, the war.
Australia and the US
In Australia, there were 355,627 international students on student visas for YTD in January 2022, down 21 percent compared to January 2021. There were 570,626 students enrolled with Australian educators in 2021, and about half were enrolled in higher education. The top five source countries are China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The latest data release from the US Customs and Immigration Student and Exchange Visitor Program indicates that the number of student visas fell by -1.2% compared with 2020. The total number of international students at US universities dropped by 15%, from 1,075,496 in 2019-2020 to 914,095 in 2020-2021. The number of new international students enrolling in US universities dropped by 45.6% in that time frame.
According to Statista, most international students studying in the United States are originally from China and India, with a total of 317,299 students and 167,582 students, respectively, in the 2020/21 school year. In 2018/19, there were 377,943 international graduate students, which accounted for over one-third of the international students in the country. Typically, engineering and math & computer science programs were among the most common fields of study for these students.
Netherlands and Spain
In the Netherlands, though, numbers have shown the opposite. The latest figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) indicate that during the academic year 2021/22, 115,000 students enrolled at Dutch universities came from abroad. “Over the past 16 years, the number of international students has grown more rapidly than the number of domestic students. In the 2021/'22 academic year, 115,000 international students were enrolled in higher education. This is 3.5 times as many as in 2005/'06 when the number stood at 33 thousand,” the statement points out.
The pandemic hasn't impacted students going to Spain either; there were 185,145 international students in Spanish universities back in 2017/18. In 2018/19, there were 194,743, and in 2019/2020, during the pandemic, there were 208,366 international students in Spanish universities.
UK
The United Kingdom is the second country with the most international students in the world, gathering over half a million as of 2022 statistics. Similarly to other European countries, the UK didn't suffer a decrease in international students. The total number of international students in the UK is 605,130 this year, of which 205,690 are non-EU undergraduate students, and the total number of non-EU students in England is 376,880. According to Erudera statistics, currently, the highest number of non-EU students in England comes from China (263,965). India comes second with 72,085 students, and Nigeria ranks third with 16,980 students.
Students experience
Italo del Castillo is a Peruvian student in Canada. He studies Business Administration in British Columbia. The pandemic had been trouble for him as he delayed his plans for about six months and started university classes remotely. Now in the country, he shares some of his difficulties of living abroad as a student. “Mainly, the cost of living will always be the relevant factor before deciding to immigrate as a student because it can be high compared to other cities or countries in Latin America, for instance. However, the government regulations as an international student allow you to have a satisfying lifestyle in the long term because it offers a great facility to work part-time during your studies and full time during the vacations, which are usually between the months of April to September and from the end of December to the fortnight of January.”
Gladys Lardy is a French student. She's 20 years old and hopes to have a working experience abroad instead of studying, as she explains. “I prefer to work abroad rather than study because I have a very poor level in English, and therefore insufficient to be able to pass my exam abroad.” As for other students from non-English speaking countries, language can be a difficult aspect when going abroad to study. Besides, many can't afford English classes abroad and prefer working as an immersive experience within the language. “Going to work abroad for a while would allow me to learn to speak English. Indeed, I am currently studying business, and to speak English is essential for the future”, she says. Gladys intends to go to Malta as for her, it will be a not radical change. “It is a small island where English is spoken, and which is not very far from France (about 2 hours by plane). Currently still living with my father, I would like not to go too far for the first time.”
As Italo shared, the cost of living is an issue for most students abroad, which is why Gladys believes that working abroad could be a better plan. “In order to realize my dream and thus go and live for some time in Malta, I plan to go there for a week this summer, to get to know places, see if I could like it, and then make a real plan. In addition, I have to save money to finance my project. Finally, I'll have a look at job offers in Malta to see what job I could do there”.
