Global Higher Education Trends: The Drop in US Students from China and the Role of Optional Practical Training (OPT) in the United States
The drop in US enrolee’s from China may be temporary according to the studies of global higher education at the University ofAlberta International. “Chinese pandemic policy created a huge psychological fear among Chinese parents about more-relaxed pandemic policies in the Western world,” Liu says. Chris Glass, who studies higher-education trends at Boston College in Massachusetts, says the decline from China has not changed over the last few years.
The United Kingdom accepts 10% of international students, followed by Canada at 9% and the Institute of International Education based in New York City.
Political tensions between the US and China could affect the number of scholars from China who want to study in the US according to Jenny Lee, a professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In the past five years, the US Department of Justice has stepped up efforts to prosecute people it suspects of being involved in trade- secret theft and economic espionage.
Lee says the overall student recruitment to the US is facing a number of factors. The upcoming outcome of the US presidential election in years to come could lead to sudden visa bans and harsher immigration policies, as seen during the Trump presidency.
According to the report, mathematics and computer science was the top area of study for international graduate students in the US. Another 11% of students chose physical and life sciences.
Bista says that since the pandemic began in 2020, many international students have faced waits, sometimes of up to a full year, for visa interviews at US embassies and consulates — which delays their studies.
Many international students take advantage of optional practical training (OPT), the report says. The scheme allows students to extend their stay by up to 36 months to work for a US employer in their field of study if they have earnt a degree in certain areas of science, technology, engineering or maths. Glass says the number of students is boosted by the number of OPT participants. “International student enrolment has been propped up by OPT since 2015.”
The numbers of students and staff from the EU have been stagnant in universities in Britain. This seems to have developed into a downward trend after Brits voted to leave the EU. During the academic years 2017–18 to 2020–21, the number of first-year students coming from EU countries hovered around 65,000. But in 2021/22, that number plummeted to 31,400 — a drop of around 53% compared with the previous academic year (see ‘Brexit effect’).
This steep decline isn’t surprising, says Charley Robinson, head of global mobility at Universities UK International, a group that represents UK universities around the world. EU students were charged the same tuition fees as UK citizens, but could take out certain student loans. New EU students are charged the same fees as other international students after thetransition period ended in 2021, even though they lost this status.
This could be because of bureaucratic hurdles facing workers from the EU. “The broad assumption is that Brexit has something to do with it,” he adds. It is not as easy to come from the EU and work in the UK as it used to be.
The International Student Population of the UK during the 2018-2019 Academic Year: Where do we stand? How do we look after our international students?
Around 27% of the international student body came from China. This number was higher than in the previous year, possibly owing to a rebound after the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last academic year also saw an increase in the number of first-year students from countries in southeast Asia and West Africa. India has seen a 50% increase in students from India over the past 2 years, which accounts for 23% of all international students.
Attracting and retaining international talent will require stable immigration policies in the future, says Robinson. She says that every part of the UK benefits from international students. We have to be careful that we don’t fall victim to being complacent.