Markets for International Students and Scholars in the United States: An Analysis of Current Trends

• In Event: Internationalizing U.S. Higher Education Through Student and Scholar Mobility

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, the number of globally mobile students and scholars has exploded worldwide and the United States has experienced a large increase of international students and scholars studying, researching, and teaching at U.S. campuses. Seeking to benefit from this trend, many U.S. higher education institutions have begun to view the recruitment of international students and researchers as a strategic institutional imperative that can alleviate enrollment and budgetary pressures, improve rankings, and improve campus diversity.

This paper takes a market-based perspective in assessing the current trends and drivers of the mobility of international students and scholars to the United States. Drawing on the practice-based concept of international enrollment management (Sinclair, 2010), this paper analyzes current mobility trends through the lens of institutions’ efforts to recruit international students and scholars and the institutional, political, economic, and individual factors that bear on recruitment. The data in this paper are drawn primarily from a large-scale national survey of international activity at U.S. higher education institutions (IIE’s Open Doors), as well as a global student survey administered to nearly 16,000 prospective international students in 19 countries from 2009 through 2013. Additional data will be drawn from sources such as NCES, NSF, and the College Board.

I will provide a description of the various segments of international students and scholars in the United States in order to provide a detailed analysis of who studies where and why, including the factors that influence institutions’ recruitment efforts for international students and scholars. The following key questions will be addressed:

Student preferences and perceptions: What are international students seeking from U.S. higher education and what are their perceptions of U.S. higher education compared to other potential study destinations?

Pathways of international students and scholars: How do international students and scholars find their way to U.S. higher education? This analysis will address both their pathways into the United States, as well as their pathways within the United States into higher levels of education and the workforce.

Institutional segmentation: How do patterns of international academic mobility vary by institution type and location in the United States? What drives different institution types to internationalize in specific ways?

Author

• Christine A. Farrugia, Institute of International Education