|
|
|
Return to Bulletin Home - February 2007 |
FEATURE Student Mobility in the Americas There are three major historic mobility trends in the Americas: (1) the large numbers of students who come to the US from source countries the world over, (2) the movement of Latin American students to the US, and (3) the flow of American students to study abroad destinations in Europe. However, the international student market in the Americas has been shifting in recent years in the wake of stiffening visa requirements in the US and the explosion of educational choice in the global marketplace (see "Key Market Trends Highlighted in Berlin Seminar," Issue #3). The market is now showing signs of further, significant change that will affect not only student movement within the region, but throughout the world. Market trends in the Americas begin in the United States. America is of course a major player in the global education market: it is the world's number one destination for international students (see chart below) and it has an educational system with a capacity that few host countries can match. At the same time, US colleges and universities are sending record numbers of American students overseas via study abroad programmes (more than 200,000 in 2004-05 alone).
Global destinations for international students at the post-secondary (tertiary) level, 2006. Sources: UNESCO, IIE. However, with everything else that the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, have meant to the US, they also marked a major turning point in student mobility in the Americas. Through the early part of this decade, international enrolment in the US had grown continuously for more than 30 years. After 9/11, increased national security provisions led to new restrictions on students coming to the US and to a more complex and demanding visa processing system. As a result, international student enrolment in the US has declined from a high of 582,996 in 2001-2002 to 564,766 in 2005-2006—an overall decline of more than 3% during a time of significant worldwide growth in the demand for education. Latin American enrolments in the US have fallen off more sharply during this period, from a total of about 70,000 students in 2001-2002 to roughly 65,000 in 2005-2006.
The Institute for International Education's Daniel Obst leads a market intelligence seminar on Latin American mobility, Miami (December 2006). The decline in US enrolment has opened the door to, and perhaps accelerated, the movement of increasing number of students to alternate host countries such as the UK, Australia, and Canada, as well as the rise of new regional educational centres, notably in China. There are, however, more recent signs that international enrolments in the US have stabilised and are poised to recover. US institutions reported an 8% increase in the number of new enrolments in 2005-2006, and there are signs that America is taking steps to reassert itself in the global education market. "We are increasing the number of scholarship programmes," the US State Department's Miller Crouch said recently. "We are continuing to make improvements in visa processing." Daniel Obst, director of membership and higher education services at the Institute for International Education, agrees, "The visa situation has improved a lot. We're seeing streamlined processes and increased staffing so that visas are being processed more quickly. The IIE is supporting this through briefings with consular officers at the Foreign Service Institute on the importance of international education in the US." Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute for International Education, notes that US institutions have also stepped up their recruitment efforts in recent years: "America's colleges and universities have begun to see positive results from their proactive efforts to recruit international students and make them feel welcome on campus. With several thousand campuses able to host international students (ten times as many as any of the other leading host countries), the US has a huge untapped capacity to meet the growing worldwide demand for higher education." Meanwhile, the number of American students heading abroad continues to increase. While American students have traditionally looked to Europe for study abroad experience, this historical pattern is showing signs of change. In 2004-2005, the top four destinations—the UK, Italy, Spain, and France—hosted nearly half of the more than 200,000 American students studying abroad that year. However, 11 of the top 20 destinations for US students are now outside of Europe, and four of these—China, Argentina, Brazil, and India—realised 25% growth (or better) in American student enrolment over 2003-2004. After Europe, the #2 regional destination for US students is now Latin America. Looking ahead, it appears that the US now presents both new challenges and new opportunities within the global marketplace. American institutions are sending more students abroad, and to a greater range of destinations, than ever before. At the same time, these same institutions are stepping up their recruitment efforts even as the American government is sharpening its awareness of international education and taking steps to streamline visa processing—all of which will almost certainly strengthen the US's competitive position in the international student marketplace. For more on mobility patterns in the US and elsewhere, see the IIE's Atlas of Student Mobility. |
The ICEF Bulletin is published periodically throughout the year. This email was sent to you by bulletin@icef.com. |
