International Students Apply to Record Number of Global Destinations
This was a big topic in many of the sessions at NAFSA last week. Global competition for international students is increasing and impacting enrollments numbers for the US, Canada, and the UK. We are seeing other countries such as Germany, France, and China make significant investments into their infrastructure and national strategies. This matters to international students especially as they watch significant changes in policy in key destinations and are looking for more affordable options.
“More than ever, students and parents are looking for a strong return on their investment, and careers have become a major consideration for study abroad decision making. Universities are challenged to provide tailored employment support to students and alumni in order to attract talent from across the globe in the face of very stiff competition,” said Hands.
Read more on The PIE website >
Universities Try 3-Year Degrees to Save Students Time, Money
This would be an attractive option for many international students looking to the US for their education. Schools have been talking about this for years, and seeing it come together is very exciting. In addition to lowering overall tuition rates for students, there is hope that this type of programming will lead to increased completion rates.
More than a dozen public and private universities are participating in a pilot collaboration called the College-in-3 Exchange, to begin considering how they could offer three-year programs. The public universities include the College of New Jersey, Portland State University, Southern Utah University, the Universities of Minnesota at Rochester and at Morris, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Utah Tech University.
Get the full story on West Virginia Watch >
US Coalition Urges Congress to Take Action to Improve Visa Processing this Year
As many of you know by now, Shorelight is a founding member of the US for Success coalition. Last week at NAFSA, the coalition held two focus groups: an informational session on opening day and was highlighted in many discussions. ICEF released this article discussing the issues of visa capacity and visa denials. Shorelight data was used in our conversations with Consular Affairs and our visa denial report was once again cited in the article.
As we reported recently, US government data reveals that, “More than a third of prospective international students applying to study in the US [in 2023] were turned away. The F-1 visa refusal rate surged to 36% in 2023 for a total of 253,355 refusals, higher even than in 2022. What’s more, the rate of refusal for student visas was nearly twice that of refusal for other types of visas.”
Those historically high refusal rates are particularly affecting students from the Global South, notably those from India and Africa.
And wait times for visa appointments are also trending much longer this year, with reported waits of up to 100 or 350 days, or more, depending on the student's country of origin. That severe bottleneck is now putting more students at risk of missing the start of the coming academic year.
Learn more on ICEF Monitor >
