Global Student Demand Picks Up, US Loses International Student Market Share To Competitors
Important new research was released this week by HolonIQ. Shorelight was a lead sponsor in their 2030 Global Student Flows project. While many annual releases look at past years, this project is unique in that it looks forward. In conjunction with this new release, Shorelight published an article highlighting the data and explaining what it means for higher education, the workforce and the economy in the US.
“New data from HolonIQ that forecasts global student flows shows that despite growing demand for an education abroad, the US share of those students has been slowly eroding for 20 years, costing the US billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. Approximately 9 million students, representing more than $500B in annual direct expenditure, will travel to study outside their home country by 2030. And over the next 30 years, the world is expected to produce 1 billion post-secondary graduates, many of whom will be interested in an English-based degree or credential. Other leading destination countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK have adopted intentional and coordinated policies to grow their share of the millions of current and future mobile international students, and as a result, the US has experienced an approximate 20% loss in share over the last two decades.”
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The Financially Resilient University
12 years ago, Tom Dretler co-authored “The Financially Sustainable University.” They raised the alarm about the higher education bubble that was putting many colleges and universities on an unsustainable financial path as spending continued to outpace revenue. This week, the same team revisited the paper and released the latest installment, “The Financially Resilient University.” The paper looks back over the last 12 years and looks ahead at what is still at stake for higher education in the US.
“Looking ahead, we see a concerning macroeconomic environment for higher education. Inflation and interest rate growth is already driving up operating and capital investment costs, while a recessionary environment will force many colleges and universities to curtail tuition increases and will raise institutional financial aid costs, depress private giving, and cut into endowments.
In this perilous environment, colleges and universities will not be propped up by the confluence of factors that enabled them to pull through the pandemic years. To prosper through future shocks or, for some, to merely survive, institutions must take action now to strengthen student demand and shore up their financial foundations.”
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NAFSA Issue Brief: The United States Needs A Coordinated National Strategy For International Education
Ahead of its annual conference, NAFSA has renewed its call for a national strategy. The issue brief and ask are similar to previous calls for action by NAFSA.
“Ask:
NAFSA urges the White House to lead the development of a detailed international education strategy. Building off the Joint Statement of Principles issued by the U.S. Departments of State and Education, and working in close partnership with key international education stakeholders, the strategy should set targets, support policies, promote effective administrative structures, and fund programs to:
increase the number and diversity of international students at U.S. higher education institutions;
increase the number and diversity of American students participating in study abroad programs; and
encourage global higher education institutional partnerships that will facilitate internationalized curricula, foreign language instruction, collaborative research, and faculty mobility."
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