Of the 662 US institutions surveyed in IIE’s Spring 2024 Snapshot survey, 53% indicated that international applications were up compared to the previous year, while 30% said that numbers had remained the same and 17% recorded a decrease. 

Previously, in 2022/23, 65% of institutions recorded a growth, and 61% in 2023/24.  

“The data suggests that there is a continued need for and commitment to advance diversity in global exchange.

“It suggests that the growth strengthens academic diversity and welcomes global perspectives into the U.S. higher education landscape,” Mirka Martel, IIE’s head of research, evaluation and learning, told The PIE News.  

The survey, conducted from June 17 – July 13, 2024, found the largest application increases in students from Ghana (62%), Nepal (53%), India (47%), Nigeria (46%) and Bangladesh (40%).  

Applications from China continued to grow, but at a slower pace of 26%. 

“This provides an initial look into possible increases across these places of origin in the 2024/25 academic year, though noting that applicants may be interested in several colleges,” said Martel.  

Furthermore, tracking the number of applications doesn’t take into consideration the impact of visa refusal rates and embassy wait times which disproportionately impact regions such as Ghana and Nigeria. 

In 2022/23, China remained the top source country for the US, with nearly 290,000 Chinese students enrolled at US institutions, closely followed by India, which sent nearly 270,000 students to the US in 2022/23 according to Open Doors data.  

However, recruiters are increasingly focussing on the Indian market, which grew by 35% in 2022/23 on the previous year, compared to China, which saw a 0.2% decrease in students coming to the US.  

“Most importantly, we found that increases were evident across all institution types and academic levels, including undergraduate, graduate and non-degree,” Martel wrote in the report.  

There is a continued need for and commitment to advance diversity in global exchange

Mirka Martel, IIE

The report showed that US institutions continue to invest significant resources in international student recruitment, with 85% of respondents reporting that investment in student recruitment was the same or higher than the previous year.  

Of those respondents, the large majority focussed on recruiting undergraduate students (97%), prioritising students from India, Vietnam, China, Canada and South Korea.  

The report noted that China is listed in fifth place in respondents’ recruitment efforts, indicating moves by institutions to diversify their undergraduate market strategies. 

Most institutions (87%) are also prioritising international students already attending high school in the US and transfer students from other US colleges and institutions.  

Out of the colleges surveyed, 66% indicated that they were prioritising India for graduate recruitment, which significantly outpaced other markets.

This is in line with Open Doors data, which found that the highest proportion of Indian students coming to the US in 2022/23 were graduate students.  

The report also highlighted a continued increase in US study abroad, with 94% of institutions anticipating study abroad numbers to stabilise or increase in 2024/25.  

European locations remained dominant among institutions’ study abroad preferences, with leading destinations including the UK, Spain, Italy and France.  

“Before the pandemic, institutions, sponsors of study abroad scholarships, and providers made extensive efforts to diversify destinations for engaging learning experiences in regions beyond Europe. We are beginning to see a return to these nontraditional destinations,” read the report.  

These include destinations such as Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea.