Tag: International

  • Podcast: International, UCAS data, student finance

    Podcast: International, UCAS data, student finance

    This week on the podcast the government has finally unveiled its new International Education Strategy – but with no headline target for international student numbers and a clear shift towards education exports, what does it mean for the sector?

    Plus the latest UCAS end of cycle data and what it reveals about entry qualifications at high tariff providers, and a new NUS campaign on student maintenance that’s turning the spotlight on parents.

    With Mike Ratcliffe, Senior Advisor at UWE Bristol, Richard Brabner, Visiting Professor of Civic Engagement at Newcastle University, Jen Summerton, Operations Director at Wonkhe and presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe.

    You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, Acast, Amazon Music, Deezer, RadioPublic, Podchaser, Castbox, Player FM, Stitcher, TuneIn, Luminary or via your favourite app with the RSS feed.

    On the site

    UCAS End of Cycle, 2025: access and participation

    UCAS End of Cycle, 2025: provider recruitment strategies

    Graduates are paying more and getting less

    A new international education strategy

    Transcript (auto generated)

    It’s the Wonkhe Show. The long-awaited international education strategy finally lands, but where’s the numbers target? There’s UCAS data out, latest on who’s doing the hoovering, and NUS launches a new campaign aimed at mum and dad. It’s all coming up.

    “Yes, we think this is important, but this is definitely framed as the solution to your financial worries is to not bring more international students into this country. But it is still framed as international students are being valuable, what they bring, the globalisation. And then I thought that I’m annoyed that soft power boils down to how many presidents and prime ministers we have.”

    Welcome back to the Wonky Show, your weekly roundup of higher education news, policy and analysis. I’m your host, Jim Dickinson, and I’m here to help us make sense of it all. As usual, three excellent guests.

    In Oxford, Mike Bratcliffe is Senior Advisor at UWE Bristol. Mike, your highlight of the week, please.

    “It’s starting block. So we’ve got students back. They’re doing their programme-level induction, which is lovely. Having students run a campus game is particularly lovely because it means that catering feel confident enough to reopen the salad bar.”

    And in Newcastle this week, Richard Brabner is visiting Professor of Civic Engagement at Newcastle and LPD Place Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Richard, your highlight of the week, please.

    “Thanks, Jim. Well, I’ve actually based in South East London in Bromley, but my highlight of the week was actually going up to Newcastle on Monday and Tuesday, the first time in my visiting role, to talk to the senior team and various colleagues up there about our Civic 2.0 campaign, which is looking at the next steps for the civic university movement and how we can have more of an impact on policy and the incentives in the system. So that was all very fun and very exciting.”

    Lovely stuff. And near Loughborough this week, Jen Summerton is Operations Director at Wonky. Jen, your highlight of the week, please.

    “Thanks, Jen. My highlight of the week, workwise, is launching the Secret Life of Students programme yesterday because I’m really excited. We’ve got some great content in there. I’ve just got to cheekily add another one, which is that yesterday was my birthday and my daughter made me some chocolate covered strawberry demi-gorgons which were absolutely delicious.”

    Oh that reminds me, someone gave me some chocolate at Student Governors yesterday. I think that’s melted in my pocket anyway.

    So yes, we’ll start this week with international education. This week the government published a long-awaited refresh of its strategy. Jen, what is in it and perhaps what isn’t in it?

    “Yes, so I think we were told in autumn 2024 that we were due for a refresh of this, so it is long-awaited. Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, though, missing our headline target numbers on international students, which turned out to be a bit of a hot potato last time. I think in 2019 we had a 600,000 international student target.

    “So what we do have this time is a £40 billion target on education exports by 2030. And that’s up from 35 billion in the last strategy, although perhaps worth mentioning that the methodology has changed and obviously inflation’s in quite a bit since then. I think really the focus this time is on exports, and transnational education gets plenty of warm words.

    “There’s also a slight difference in terms of the strategy being co-owned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Business and Trade along with the DfE. So the reference to education as a soft power tool, lots about influencing. And there’s a focus on student experience and support for international students as well, infrastructure, housing, that kind of thing.”

    Well, this is interesting now. Richard, on LBC this week, actually in written form, despite the fact that it was on LBC’s website, Jackie Smith said, “If they are to survive, universities must maximise the opportunities and expand abroad.” That’s a signal of intent, isn’t it?

    “Absolutely. I think whether it’s the correct signal of intent will be depending on your perspective on these sort of things. I think this document reflects political reality and it’s essentially quite a small-c conservative document in a way. I personally think its pragmatism should be welcomed in the sense that it’s not telling the sector something it might want to hear but isn’t able to deliver on.

    “There’s clearly been some mixed reaction. I think there are some organisations that have clearly been involved in shaping this strategy, have really warmly welcomed it. But you’ve seen various other commentary from people, particularly from the international student recruitment market, that are more negative towards it because I don’t think it’s ambitious enough.

    “The shift in emphasis towards TNE is really interesting. It reminds me of the coalition government, where international students were included in the net migration target, but there wasn’t a cap on numbers. There were mixed messages, but they did shift emphasis towards TNE thinking it could be the answer to all our prayers.

    “But what’s challenging for Jackie Smith, and why the £40 billion target is arguably quite ambitious, is that it doesn’t really reflect the internal challenges universities are under at the moment. Are they really able to capitalise on this moving forward? We know some really positive examples of TNE overseas and they’ve highlighted that in the strategy, particularly in relation to India and so on.

    “But how difficult it is not just to build campuses but deliver effective partnerships when you’re restructuring your institution internally and investing overseas when there’s so much challenging change at home, I think is quite difficult. So perhaps it won’t be institution-led. It’ll be tech and other innovation in the system that might lead this.”

    Now, Mike, when I was planning the study tour this year, I was thrilled to be reminded that Premier Inn operated in Germany. When we got there, without going into detail, I think it’s fair to say they’re struggling to maintain quality. If there’s a massive expansion in TNE, there’s actually not been much regulatory attention on it. Are there a set of quality risks?

    “Well, there are. I think there’s a lot of scope to think about TNE and its opportunities. If you go back to a UUKi report last month, it shows how much growth we’ve had. But it also makes the point that there’s a distinction between TNE actually delivered in country and TNE done by distance and other flexible means.

    “There’s an artefact in the report, that picture of them all in India with the Prime Minister, and you think, well, that’s a big ‘let’s build a campus’ kind of TNE. That’s the big slow burn stuff.

    “We don’t know. OfS continue to threaten English providers with expanding the scope of what they’re going to do and then going quiet on it again. What would be really good is some kind of backup that says, this is the kind of thing we’re going to be doing over the next three to four years, so institutions know they don’t go and set up provision and then fall foul of some new rule applied to people in a completely different country, which no one knew was coming.

    “The report talks about taking out red tape. If we’re going to start to put more red tape onto TNE, that’s not going to work.”

    Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Look, Jen, one of the things that strikes me is the Foreign Office’s logo is on this time, but the Home Office’s logo isn’t. We still have this split between immigration policy and what amounts to an export policy. How much joint government is going on here?

    “I mean, it’s an interesting one because in a sense, the new strategy is seeking cross-government commitment. We’ve got the Foreign Office and we’ve got the trade and business side involved. That’s quite a big ask.

    “In one way, Jackie Smith is saying if they are to survive, universities must maximise opportunities. Actually, she’s also saying it has to be done meaningfully and with purpose. Doing all of this in the right way at the same time as universities facing the financial constraints they’re under is a hugely ambitious task and it will be a lot easier for some institutions than others.

    “We need to be careful that the sector can support all institutions to do this in the right way and with purpose. And thinking about home students as well, how do we create opportunities overseas that benefit students in the UK? How can we make this across the board beneficial and valuable for everybody and greater than the sum of its parts?”

    Back on the main international recruitment stuff, Richard. A lot of other countries have national-level initiatives around experience, mental health, emergency financial support, housing, and so on. There’s very little here that moves the dial beyond warm words on urging institutions to offer the best experience.

    “Yeah. I think it does mention infrastructure and housing, which I’m not sure it did previously. Small steps forward, you could argue.

    “There are two things I’d pick up on. Firstly, it says it supports the sector-led agent quality framework, which is welcome, but I personally don’t think it goes far enough in protecting students from bad practice. There’s plenty of that out there, and it presents a reputational risk. It could be strengthened, perhaps through a co-regulatory approach with government and sector together.

    “Secondly, there’s a cursory mention of outcomes, but in a limited way. When we ran the Student Futures Commission a few years ago, there was a sub-commission looking at the international student experience. Graduate outcomes and employability were a major theme. The UK sector needs to get better at facilitating opportunities not just in the UK but also in the countries students come from and may return to.

    “I think there might be a role for government, not necessarily funding lots of things, but facilitating pooling resources and knowledge-sharing, particularly around graduate opportunities overseas.

    “And from a civic lens, another missing piece is utilising international students intentionally to support economic and social growth in towns and cities beyond their spending power. How could we facilitate their expertise and knowledge with small businesses that want to grow export-led approaches overseas, including in their own countries? That could support graduate outcomes and business in this country.”

    But Mike, this is part of the problem, isn’t it? When you’ve got a strategy separated from the trade-offs the Home Office has to make on immigration policy, you end up with an international education strategy that doesn’t really rehearse whether we want international graduates, whether we need immigration, ageing population, sustainable migration. That framing ends up missing and it reads like export promotion.

    “I suppose that framing of ‘we support the sustainable recruitment of high quality international students’ is sat there on the face of the thing, which is fine. There are clearly paragraphs there to show the sector they’re paying attention. That framing of genuine students, that’s a concern because the Home Office is sitting on a lot of casework suggesting it is concerned that some people who come here are not genuine students.

    “There’s something weird in how the Home Office, on the one hand, is activist in this area, but on the other hand it hasn’t used the CAS system where it allocates the number of students a place can recruit. It’s not done anything to deal with what sometimes looks like boom and bust in recruitment.

    “So that’s the tension. Yes, we think this is important, but this is definitely framed as the solution to your financial worries is to not bring more international students into this country. But it is still framed as international students are very valuable, what they bring, the globalisation.

    “And then I thought I’m annoyed that soft power boils down to how many presidents and prime ministers we have. Wouldn’t it be marvellous to have procurement managers spread across the world with British degrees? Because that would be far better for an industry than the occasional president, who is subject to international whim.

    “What could we do to say that’s where we get value by having a lot of people who have an experience of British education? But also, increasingly, we come back to the TNE thing, a British education that they haven’t had to fly halfway around the world in order to get.”

    I mean, on the target thing, Jen, we should note there isn’t an explicit numbers target, but there also isn’t a cap or a cut of the sort being played with now in Canada and Australia.

    “Yeah, and to be honest, it doesn’t take people in the sector who know how to do these calculations to work that up into a numbers target if they want to. Individual institutions will be required to do that. They have to plan what proportion will be overseas, what will be TNE, what might be English language, whatever, and diversify it.

    “And obviously the majority will still be international students coming to the UK. They have to decide where they want to prioritise efforts and finances. We’re hearing this from government all the time. They’re putting the onus back on institutions to be creative about how they can make more money and diversify their offer.

    “If we don’t do it, other countries will do it. So we have to be in it to win it.”

    I was at student governance yesterday and ended up talking with four of them from a particular part of the country who said they don’t think their own university could sustain a campus abroad, but the four of them could probably collaborate on a multidisciplinary degree abroad. Are there opportunities for collaboration in the TNE space that aren’t being taken?

    “Yeah, I’m sure there must be. If institutions are going to be creative and innovative in this space, you’d think so. And that’s where there could be a role for government in developing this strategy, whether nationally or regionally, easing out tensions and creating partnerships that could be effective abroad.”

    And finally, Mike, one of the things that strikes me is there often doesn’t seem to be much interaction between students studying similar subjects on a TNE campus and back home. Academics fly backwards and forwards. Is there more opportunity for internationalisation at home, maybe a semester at the TNE campus, or mixing without requiring someone to spend years abroad?

    “Yeah, we’ve definitely seen that with places with fixed scale campuses abroad. The opportunity to continue your course but do it in China or Malaysia is part of the offer.

    “There are American universities that bring their students here for a semester and get an experience but stay on course, and have the opportunity to mix with different people.

    “What will be interesting is whether you can do that with technology. If you’ve got your VLE set up and you’re teaching the module, what opportunities are there to make that module available to people in two or three other countries at the same time as people are doing it in the UK? Opportunities for group work, sharing resources, getting global perspective without anyone moving an inch. There’s lots more we could develop. There are good examples already of how people are making their TNE enrich the experience of UK students.”

    Well, fascinating. Now, let’s see who’s been blogging for us this week.

    “Hi, I’m Common Miles and this week on Wonky I’ll be writing about why universities struggle to act on early warning data from their analytics systems. Many of us have seen this, universities investing heavily in learning analytics. The OfS sets clear continuation thresholds, yet when dashboards flag at risk students, institutions often can’t respond effectively.

    “My article explores why this is an organisational challenge rather than a technology problem. The issue is that universities are structured for retrospective quality assurance, not proactive support. When analytics identifies a struggling student in week three, most institutions lack clear protocols for who should act and how.

    “Successful institutions solve this by building explicit governance frameworks and creating tiered response systems that bridge the gap between regulatory requirements and teacher judgment. You can read the full piece on Wonky.”

    Now, next up, UCAS has released provider-level end-of-cycle data for 2025, and it’s thrown up some interesting patterns, Mike.

     

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  • 10 talking points on the UK’s new international education strategy

    10 talking points on the UK’s new international education strategy

    1. Growth is the target, but not from student recruitment
    The international education strategy sets out a bold ambition for the UK’s thriving education sector: to collectively grow education exports to £40 billion per year by 2030, but the plan makes it clear that will need to come from the broader education ecosystem including transnational education (TNE), ELT, skills and edtech.

    2. The government’s love affair with TNE continues
    The UK’s TNE boom – seen most evidently in India, with a slew of UK branch campuses opening over the next year or so – shows no sign of slowing down. The IES sets out an intention to grow the government’s leadership in TNE, as well as using the Education Sector Action Group (ESAG) to look out for partnership opportunities and educating providers on the technical risks of operating overseas.

    3. Soft power and diplomacy is an explicit focus
    The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has joined the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) as authors of the strategy and as a result soft power is a core feature. The strategy talks about ‘rolling out a new diplomacy‐led approach’, by appointing heads of missions to act as local education champions in priority countries. The upcoming HMG Soft Power Strategy will also dictate what global partnerships are a priority for the country.

    4. The ESAG will deliver action plans
    This reformed ministerially chaired forum will bring together industry, government, and representative bodies from across the education sector to tackle key concerns and identify opportunities for partnerships. Each representative will lead on an action plan, published within the first 100 days of appointment to ESAG, outlining how their members will support delivery of the three ambitions of this strategy. But who is ESAG? We’ve broken it down for you here.

    5. Sir Steve Smith continues his work with priority countries as international education champion
    Priority countries named in the strategy are still India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, as per the 2019 IES and the work of Sir Steve Smith. Emerging economies such as Brazil, Mexico and Pakistan are mooted as wider opportunities without any further details given. Pakistan is an outlier given the recent problems with high asylum applications and visa delays.

    6. The levy and tough immigration policy is reaffirmed
    The publication of the strategy was delayed in response to the government’s immigration whitepaper and the Autumn Budget, which announced the international student levy. It remains to be seen how this will be applied to students – however, the strategy doubles down on reaffirming this policy and how the IES will adhere to wider government immigration policy.

    7. Cross-government collaboration welcome, but will bureaucracy slow delivery down?
    There is a clear effort to include all stakeholders in the process and direction, including the government’s vast overseas networks – but will many more stakeholders prevent the UK from being agile? Global competition is ramping up again as Australia has undertaken its own strategy review and the big four study destinations expand to the big 10. Read our analysis here.

    8. No new policy levers, tactics or funding included
    Despite the obvious challenges, there appear to be no new tactics being presented in the strategy to meet the growth target. Instead, the report reiterates the strength of existing scholarships and campaigning by The British Council. The UK’s return to Erasmus is a welcome feature mentioned in the document and a new development after the previous IES – but that was technically announced by the government at the end of 2025. TNE and innovation are expensive and at present there is no government support offered to kick-start activity.

    9. Sustainable recruitment is the name of the game, but are the Home Office official stakeholders?
    The need for sustainable international recruitment is a theme mentioned repeatedly in the latest IES, with a focus on attracting “high-quality” talent from overseas. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the government’s aim of controlling immigration to the UK, the aim seems to be to maintain the UK’s stellar reputation as a study destination without seeing the same post-pandemic surge in numbers. The Home Office is implicitly involved as guardians of the new BCA metrics to which sponsors must adhere, but it remains to be seen if the previous disconnect between the UKVI and the national education exports strategy has been resolved.

    10. Qualifications are a valuable export for the UK
    In keeping with a renewed government focus on skills after the publication of the post-16 education and skills paper last year, the IES hones in on the value of UK qualifications abroad. It also wants to open up new markets overseas by benchmarking international credentials against UK standards.

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  • A new international education strategy

    A new international education strategy

    The Westminster government’s newest iteration of the international education strategy commits the UK to three ambitions: to increase the UK’s international standing through education, to recruit high quality international higher education students from a diverse range of countries, and to grow education exports to £40bn a year by 2030.

    Last time we got an International Education Strategy from the government was back in 2019 – famously it committed the government to increase education exports to £35bn per year, and to increase the number of international HE students studying in the UK to 600,000 per year, again: both by 2030.

    The government’s current best estimate for performance against those targets – which deals with the 2022 calendar year – suggests income from education exports was £32.3bn for that year – with around three quarters of that being derived from higher education activity. For a variety of reasons, it isn’t great data.

    And HESA tells us that there were 758,855 international higher education students during the 2022-23 academic year, though numbers have fallen since.

    Diversification across sub-sectors

    Within the higher education sector the perception has been that this decline in international student numbers has been a political choice in the face of wider public concerns around immigration rather than any failing among universities: changes to dependant visa access, a reduction in the length (from 24 months to 18 months) of the graduate visa for postgraduate taught students, reported difficulties in obtaining student visas, and the onset of price rises linked to the forthcoming international student levy.

    Though a lot of the UK’s historic strengths in international education come via its higher education providers, the strategy is at pains to emphasis the full spectrum of what is on offer, noting:

    We see diversification across sub-sectors as key to long-term success

    Accordingly much of the strategy deals with early years and schools, non-HE tertiary education, English language training, special educational needs, and education technology. But, as with higher education, there is little detail: this will be filled in via an action plan developed by a reconstituted Education Sector Action Group (ESAG). This ministerially-chaired forum will bring together government, industry, and sector representative bodies: each representative will lead on a sub-sector action plan to be published within 100 days of appointment.

    Of course, we don’t even know which minister will chair the forum yet – the strategy is owned jointly by the Department for Education, the Department of Business and Trade, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office. We do know that Steve Smith retains his role as international education champion, and that the strategy will be supported by a range of existing tools and programmes: notably for higher education these include research and technology partnerships including Horizon Europe, plus things like Erasmus+ (from 2027) and Turing (newly confirmed for 2026-27).

    The British Council will play a prominent role too – most notably in the expansion of transnational education provision across every part of the sector. Here robust quality assurance will play a key part – we get detail on schools-level accreditation and oversight, but the parallel section on higher education quality assurance and international standards is missing (despite case studies on the University of London, and the India campus of the University of Southampton). The section on the work of the British Council-led Alumni UK programme (launched in 2022) offers recognition of the value of alumni as international ambassadors.

    And what’s in it for higher education?

    The meat of the strategy for higher education providers concerns a “strategic approach to sustainable international student recruitment”. The key words are “well-managed” and “responsible” recruitment, and a quality student experience should lead to world-class outcomes. It is very encouraging to see that support systems and infrastructure (including local housing) are on the radar too.

    Institutions will be “encouraged to diversify their recruitment”, moving away from reliance on any single country”. There’s support for the sector-owned Agent Quality Framework to tackle poor practices, and a suggestion that government will:

    work closely with the sector to ensure that our institutions recruit international higher education students in a way that maintains quality and student experience. This includes considering factors such as skills and entry requirements, adequate infrastructure, local housing, and support systems

    A section on “maintaining a competitive offer” flags the retention of the (18 month) graduate route, the high potential individual route for those graduating from top 100 institutions (nothing to do with helping UK international education expand, but it is in there), and the change in visa conditions enabling graduates to start businesses while transferring to the “investor founder” route. The international student levy clearly does not help to maintain a competitive offer but we get details of that here too:

    The levy will be fully reinvested into higher education and skills, including the reintroduction of targeted maintenance grant for disadvantaged domestic students, helping to break down barriers to opportunity as part of the government’s Plan for Change and making our higher education system more inclusive for the benefit of all students

    However this ends up benefitting home students, there is no detail on how the policy might discourage (via higher prices, for example) international recruitment.

    Indeed, throughout the strategy there is nothing that deals with the restrictions being placed on higher education as the largest single contributor to educational exports, and how that situation will cause problems (despite warm words about “unlocking the full potential of our education sector”) in meeting this expanded and challenging financial target.

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  • UK unveils new international education strategy

    UK unveils new international education strategy

    • Government aims to grow education exports to £40 billion per year by 2030, growth to come from TNE, ELT, skills and edtech
    • New strategy removes targets on international student numbers with focus on sustainable recruitment
    • Ministerial group known as the Education Sector Action Group (ESAG) to work with sector to deliver action plans tackling key concerns and identifying partnership opportunities

    The long-awaited document marks the first new UK international education strategy (IES) since 2019, which at the time revealed goals to grow international student numbers by 30% by 2030. Education is already one of the UK’s most important exports, bolstering the economy by £32bn per year, with the IES building on 2019’s stated ambition to grow its export value to £35 bn.

    However, after a post-pandemic boom, with international student numbers in the UK reaching 732,285 in 2023/24, the government has moved away from targetting increased enrolments, instead making clear that growth should come from areas such as English language training (ELT), transnational education (TNE) and edtech sectors – worth some £560m, £3bn and £3.89bn in exports respectively.

    The revamped IES outlines three main priorities for UK international education; to grow education exports to a collective $40bn per year, oversee sustainable overseas student recruitment and amplify the UK’s international standing through education – including a focus on cutting red tape for TNE partnerships abroad.

    Elsewhere, the government is drawing on expertise from the international education sector through a reformed ministerial group known as the Education Sector Action Group (ESAG) – a collective tasked with tackling key concerns and identifying partnership opportunities, as well as smoothing the path towards international alliances.

    Each representative will develop an action plan drawing on how its members will support the IES’s three main goals to be published within the first 100 days of their accession to ESAG. As yet it is unclear who will be included in the group.

    Meanwhile, Sir Steve Smith will stay on as the UK’s international education champion, with a remit to “remove barriers to education partnerships” by continuing to engage with India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Sir Steve is also looking into opportunities in “emerging economies” such as Brazil, Mexico, and Pakistan, the IES said.

    By expanding overseas, our universities, colleges and education providers can diversify income, strengthen global partnerships and give millions more access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home
    Bridget Phillipson, education secretary

    The document also signals the publication of more specific strategy documents in the future, including a Soft Power Strategy outlining plans to grow the UK’s global influence through its education, sports, science, governance, development and tech sectors.

    Expanding the UK’s soft power abroad is a key part of the IES, which recognises the power in education as a way to position the country as “a place of learning, openness, research and innovation – building life‐long alliances and deepening trust in the UK”.

    Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that supporting international partnerships would help institutions to “diversity and strengthen their business models”.

    “By expanding overseas, our universities, colleges and education providers can diversify income, strengthen global partnerships and give millions more access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home,” she added.

    Minister for Trade Chris Bryant branded education exports as a “major UK success story”.

    “We’re on track grow the sector to £40 billion by 2030, powered by world leading providers driving digital learning, AI enabled innovation and future skills development,” he said. 

    Malcolm Press, president of Universities UK welcomed the new document, saying it “signals a renewed commitment to fostering the global reach, reputation and impact of our universities”.

    This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates on this emerging story…

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  • The unlikely formula behind a sold-out international education summit

    The unlikely formula behind a sold-out international education summit

    If you’ve scrolled through LinkedIn lately, you may have seen something that looks more like Eurovision than a typical education conference: university staff singing, recruitment agents dancing, and national teams battling it out for ‘best in show’ on a brightly lit stage in China’s tropical Sanya.

    The annual summit of global recruitment and international education consultancy HUATONG International‘s (Hti Edu) has been running since 2014, originally under the iae China banner before continuing under Hti’s own branding from 2023.

    The final night of the conference features performances by Hti staff, university representatives and country teams from the UK, Australia, Canada and other destinations. Acts range from institution-led and mixed national groups to collaborations with professional musicians.

    “The social bonding aspect is a strong focus of the event as we strive to forge cross cultural understanding and friendships that transcend pure business. Hti has always espoused that relationships make partnerships,” explained Mark Lucas, Hti’s senior vice president of global partnerships and business development.

    “It is hugely popular with the attendees and very competitive between the country-based acts in a ‘frenemies’ way, as each country tries to take the honours of the ‘best in show,’” said Lucas.

    “The event is held near the end of the year and all attendees from Hti’s amazing team to the channel partners, institutions and service providers work incredibly hard throughout the year – this is chance to unwind, meet people from around the world and embrace the diversity and talent that is so evident and present in the world of International education.”

    For Lucas, the entertainment is not a distraction from business – it is part of it.

    This is chance to unwind, meet people from around the world and embrace the diversity and talent that is so evident and present in the world of International education
    Mark Lucas, HUATONG International

    “We are very good at blending a serious, relevant and very full educational and business format with meaningful and fun social events. We are unusual in the fact that the social and performance aspect of the summit has become a very pivotal part of the whole event,” said Lucas.

    Alongside the spectacle sits a packed program of policy and professional content, from embassy-led visa briefings and destination updates to sessions on transnational education, AI, employability and wider sector shifts.

    The summit now draws around 1,000 delegates – including 600 hand-picked recruitment partners from across China, alongside universities, service providers and government officials from major study destinations.

    “For our channel partners, an invite to the summit is awarded based on their efforts. It is very competitively sought after and as they tell us each year, often the highlight of their year.”

    The same applies to institutions: because total attendance is capped, only around 150 institutions, service providers, and commercial partners are invited to the summit. As a result, many lock in their place for the next event as soon as the current one ends.

    According to Lucas, the event seeks to provide a platform to allow for the organisation’s priority partner institutions to directly engage with its channel and recruitment partners in a “controlled training and social context” – noting that this approach was “not the norm for B2B businesses.”

    “Hti takes a very different approach and trusts that our priority partner institutions will not seek to work directly with our extensive network of channel partners and creating an opportunity to bring their key advantages and sector positioning directly to a select group of 600 channel partners.”

    Alongside universities, the summit also brings together the wider service ecosystem that supports international students, including finance, health insurance, testing and accommodation providers.

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  • Lessons to Prospective International Students About Policing of Black Men

    Lessons to Prospective International Students About Policing of Black Men

    Last week, I was talking with a young man, Pinot, during my time in another country. He told me that he really wants to visit America, but one thing seriously frightens him: the possibility of police officers stopping, harassing and potentially inflicting violence on him. He asked me if these situations really happen as often as it seems. Pinot is Black. That conversation made me wonder how many talented, Black prospective international students share the same fears and ultimately opt out of applying to U.S. universities.

    Yesterday, I was scrolling one of my social media timelines and saw this CBS News video of police officers in Jacksonville, Fla., terrorizing William McNeil Jr. I felt my blood pressure and anxiety rising as I watched. I had not previously seen it, but maybe Pinot had. It is plausible that others around the world have as well. Videos like these teach young people across the U.S. and abroad a set of heartbreaking, inexcusable truths about crimes committed against Black men in America.

    As was the case in last week’s conversation with Pinot, I would not be able to tell a talented young Black male prospective college applicant from Africa, Jamaica, London, Paris or anyplace else that what he has seen on television or social media are rare, isolated occurrences. I would be lying. Truth is, racial profiling and police brutality happen far too often. As I said to Pinot, “What you see and hear about this is not not true.” There is far too much evidence that it remains pervasive.

    I have often told a personal story to audiences comprised of hundreds (sometimes thousands) in the U.S. that I decided against sharing with Pinot because I did not want to deepen his fears about what could happen to him if he ever visited America. I am recapping the incident here.

    In July 2007, I became an Ivy League professor. I also purchased my first home. I was a 31-year-old Black man with a Ph.D. Three friends and I went out to a nightclub to celebrate my new job at the University of Pennsylvania and my home purchase. Bars and clubs close at 2:00 a.m. in Philadelphia. My friends and I were hanging on a corner saying our goodbyes after the nightclub closed. Several other nearby establishments also had just shut down. Hence, there were lots of people on the other three corners and along the streets.

    A cop drove past my friends and me and said something that we did not hear because it was very crowded and noisy around us. We were doing nothing wrong and therefore had no reason to believe he was talking directly to the four of us. Seconds later, he jumped out of his patrol car, put his hands on his baton and yelled to us, “I said get off the fucking corner!” We were shocked and scared. The situation also hurt and angered us, but we were collectively powerless in the moment. We put our hands up and peacefully walked away. I cried uncontrollably during my drive home.

    I mentioned that I was an Ivy League professor with a Ph.D. My three friends also worked in higher education at the time (and still do). They also are Black men. Each of them has a Ph.D. No one, regardless of educational attainment, socioeconomic status or professional accomplishments, deserves to be treated like we were that night. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that our doctorates and university affiliations afforded us no immunity from police misconduct. To that cop, we were just four harassable Black men standing on a street corner.

    I wanted to tell Pinot that being stopped, undeservingly terrorized and potentially murdered by police officers in America for no reason would be unlikely to happen to him. But I could not. Upon reflection, I wonder how many other young Black men from other countries say “no, thanks” to visiting the U.S. or applying for admission to our universities because of the fears that Pinot articulated to me. If they saw the McNeil video and others like it on social media, YouTube or elsewhere, they would be right to doubt my or anyone else’s insistence that interactions with American law enforcement agents are generally safe for citizens, visitors or international students who are Black.

    By the way, perhaps it is good that Pinot did not ask me how the police officer who smashed McNeil’s car window, punched him in the face, threw him to the ground and attacked him was ultimately held accountable. According to an NPR article published this week, that cop was recently cleared of excessive force charges. Surely I would have lost all credibility with Pinot had I attempted to convince him that he would somehow be absolutely safe from similar acts of police brutality as a Black man in America.

    Shaun Harper is University Professor and Provost Professor of Education, Business and Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where he holds the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership. His most recent book is titled Let’s Talk About DEI: Productive Disagreements About America’s Most Polarizing Topics.

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  • US international master’s enrolments to fall by 15%

    US international master’s enrolments to fall by 15%

    The predicted drop means there are 64,000 fewer than expected master’s students enrolled in US institutions in 2025/26 than previously anticipated, following five years of international growth propping up overall US master’s enrolment.  

    “Uncertainty around immigration policies appears to be one of the primary drivers, if not the primary driver, of the decline in international enrolments,” Brady Colby, head of market research at Validated Insights, told The PIE News.  

    The study, conducted by Validated Insights higher education marketing agency, draws on data from multiple sector bodies, revealing nearly half of US institutions expect graduate international application volumes to decline this year.  

    This builds on an existing downward trend, with 42% of institutions reporting fewer international graduate applications last year, according to IIE.  

    It reveals international enrolments have been driving the upward trajectory of US master’s programs since 2018/19, as domestic enrolments have declined. 

    From academic years 2018/19 to 2023/24, domestic master’s enrolment saw a 0.5% decline, while international enrolments grew by more than 6%, producing an overall growth rate of 0.4%. 

    Since 2021, the number of international master’s enrolments has steadily increased by over 11%, with this year’s sharp drop likely to have financial repercussions for institutions planning for sustained growth.  

    “Recently, projections indicated that international master’s enrolment in 2025/26 would be as high as 660,000, meaning there are now expected to be 64,000 fewer of these students than previously anticipated in 2025/26,” the report states.  

    It highlights recent NAFSA data indicating new international master’s enrolments fell by 19% year-over-year in fall 2025, alongside Studyportals analysis showing prospective student interest in the US plummeting by 50% between January and April 2025.  

    The impact of the decline varies dramatically depending on field of study, with international students over-represented in STEM master’s, comprising 80% of software engineering graduates and 77% of computer science graduates.  

    By contrast, education and healthcare programs tend to have the lowest percentages of international students, according to the report.  

    The report warns that many high-demand STEM programs are “highly dependent on international students”, forecasting course closures if the downward trend continues.  

    What’s more, “the US risks losing early-career talent in computer science, AI, cyber security, data science and engineering,” said Colby. “These are precisely the fields were domestic supply already falls short of labour market demand,” he added.  

    The knock-on effects will be felt not just by universities, but by employers, domestic students, and the broader US knowledge economy

    Brady Colby, Validated Insights

    Over time, repercussions include increased hiring bottlenecks for US employers, reduced innovation in AI and emerging technologies, and the exodus of firms expanding operations in countries with more predictable post-study work policies.  

    If current trends continue, higher education finances will come under increased pressure, causing program closures in STEM and MBA programs and a “measurable drag” on innovation and economic competitiveness, said Colby. 

    “The knock-on effects will be felt not just by universities, but by employers, domestic students, and the broader US knowledge economy,” he continued, highlighting the US economy could lose $7 billion in aggregate revenue due to declining international student numbers.  

    Following administration’s recent overhaul of the H-1B visa process in favour of higher wage earners, alongside anticipated restrictions on Optional Practical Training (OPT), the decline is likely to continue.  

    In a NAFSA survey of current US international students, over half of respondents (53%) said they would not have enrolled in the first place if access to H-1B was determined by wage levels.   

    Meanwhile, 54% of respondents said they would not have enrolled in the first place had OPT been rescinded. And 57% of master’s students who intend to stay in the US said they would be unlikely to try and stay if OPT were eliminated.  

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  • What’s next for Latin American international education in 2026?

    What’s next for Latin American international education in 2026?

    Outbound mobility 

    Intra-regional and outbound mobility from Latin America are set to grow over the next five years, according to QS Student Flows data, though tighter visa restrictions in major destinations and shifting student priorities are transforming study decisions. 

    “Outbound flows are being reshaped by affordability pressures and visa tightening in traditional destinations, pushing students toward Europe, especially Spain,” said Studyportals researcher Karl Baldacchino.  

    “Sector analyses highlight affordability, employability and flexibility as the dominant decision drives for Latin American students,” he said, highlighting that post-study rights and labour-market relevance increasingly matter more than institutional brand. 

    What’s more, international student caps in Canada and Australia, as well as stricter English requirements and dependents restrictions in the UK, and political volatility in the US, are accelerating a shift toward continental Europe, stakeholders noted.  

    They highlighted Spain as the most popular European destination, which is supported by favourable policies and linguistic proximity, with Studyportals data confirming this rise in interest across Latin America.  

    What’s more, Baldacchino said Erasmus+ 2026 – which is open to partnerships beyond the EU – was a way for Latin American institutions to strengthen European ties through student and faculty exchange, joint programs and capacity building.  

    The importance of career outcomes and immigration pathways were trends also noted by EdCo LATAM Consulting founder Simon Terrington, who predicted students from Brazil, Mexico and Colombia would continue to dominate outbound flows.  

    According to a recent EdCo LATAM partner enrolment survey, Canada received a greater proportion of undergraduate Latin American students compared to the UK and Europe, which were predominantly seen as postgraduate destinations. This region was popular among master’s students from Mexico – the largest sender of this cohort – closely followed by Colombia and Brazil.

    Alongside educational opportunities, Terrington said the impact of political volatility and security concerns in some Latin American countries were notable drivers for students wanting to study in different environments. 

    Meanwhile, QS senior consultant Gabriela Geron said Trump’s policies in the US – traditionally the primary study destination for Latin America – would be “critical to monitor as they may influence visa regulations, international student flows and partnerships affecting the region”.  

    Amid recent escalations in US-Venezuela relations, students from the South American country are increasingly turning away from the US, with interest from across the region “somewhat softening”, experts have said, amid reports of noticeable declines in visa approval rates for Latin American students.  

    Inbound mobility  

    When it comes to inbound mobility: “Latin America is taking modest but important steps toward becoming a host region thanks to growing scholarship schemes and targeted English taught expansion”, said Baldacchino. 

    “The region’s biggest missed opportunities remain limited English-taught capacity, underdeveloped TNE partnerships, and the absence of a structured pre-tertiary mobility pipeline,” he continued, identifying the former as the primary constraining factor.  

    While the TNE gap between Latin America compared with Asia and the Middle East has become more visible, Baldacchino said awareness of the issue could also create momentum for new partnership models.  

    Geron agreed that limited program expansion, insufficient English-taught courses, language barriers and infrastructure challenges were reducing the region’s competitiveness compared to emerging hubs in Europe and Asia.

    The biggest structural constraint remains underdeveloped English-taught capacity

    Karl Baldacchino, Studyportals

    She identified three key opportunities for the region: “Strengthening engagement with neighbouring countries, leveraging growing demand from Europe and investing in flexible delivery models – including digital solutions and TNE – to remain competitive”. 

    Baldacchino highlighted some progress by institutions in Chile and Ecuador entering the QS Latin America & Caribbean 2026 rankings, driven by increased international collaboration and incremental expansion of English-taught courses.  

    What’s more, scholarship schemes in Brazil and Mexico continue to attract interest from the Global South, “signalling a gradual move toward Latin America becoming a genuine host rather than only a sending region”, he said.  

    Meanwhile, Geron predicted that Argentina would maintain its position as the leading host destination in Latin America, supported by its long-standing offer of accessible public higher education driving significant intra-regional mobility. 

    However, though there are yet to be any formal policy changes, ongoing political debate about charging tuition fees to non-resident international students has introduced a degree of uncertainty for prospective students, Geron noted.  

    Elsewhere, Brazil’s introduction of post-study residence and work authorisation for international graduates “represents a positive step toward linking higher education with labour market retention”, with the policy set to improve the country’s retention outcomes this year, she said.  

    With elections scheduled this year across Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Nicaragua, Geron saw several opportunities for Latin America’s development as a study destination.  

    She highlighted positive policy adjustments in countries such as Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Ecuador, which, while representing progress towards internationalisation, are unlikely to significantly alter the region’s standing in higher education in 2026. 

    “The improved rankings, expanded scholarship schemes, and targeted English-taught provision across Latin America suggest a slow but meaningful pivot toward diversity,” said Badacchino, advising institutions in the region and beyond to articulate clear, employment-led value.  

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  • What’s going to happen in international education in 2026?

    What’s going to happen in international education in 2026?

    Join HEPI and Advance HE for a webinar on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, from 11am to 12pm, exploring what higher education can learn from leadership approaches in other sectors. Key topics will include innovative approaches to recruitment and diversity, and how to ensure future sector stability through effective leadership. Sign up here to hear this and more from our speakers

    This blog was kindly authored by Viggo Stacey, International Education & Policy Writer at QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

    If 2026 is anything like last year, international education is in for another unpredictable 12 months.

    Much of 2025 was interspersed with speculation in the press about whether degrees were no longer of value for graduate, in a new world of work. There was also recurring discussion about higher education in key study destinations losing reputational ground to emerging education hubs. Despite this, rumours of higher education’s decline have been exaggerated.

    Across the global education landscape, competition for outstanding students continues to heat up. Despite policy changes in key study destinations designed to reduce the number of  international students from arriving onshore; universities and governments continue to vie for the best international talent.

    India

    Canada’s longstanding diplomatic rift with India began to thaw in 2025, with Mark Carney and Narendra Modi agreeing to enhance diplomatic staffing levels and to strengthen people-to-people linkages when they met late last year.

    Australia is already there. The country’s education minister, Jason Clare, has visited India three times in the three and a half years he has held the education portfolio. The latest visit in December saw him invited to dine privately with his counterpart, Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, at his home in New Delhi.

    India is also top of mind for UK universities, with several announcing branch campuses, and many seeking dual degrees or research partnerships with Indian counterparts. Kier Starmer’s trade mission to Mumbai in 2025 focused on business and trade, with India’s demand for 70 million university places needed by 2035 noted as a ‘huge opportunity for UK universities seeking new funding streams’.

    However, official government figures from the end of last year suggested that the numbers of higher education students from India studying abroad overall fell in 2025.

    Beyond India

    At QS, our projections for the total number of internationally mobile students globally are expected to hit 8.5 million by the end of the decade.

    QS has already spoken about the Big four evolving into the Big 14, as the predicted growth rate in global international student numbers over the next five years rises by 4 per cent.

    We also anticipate that the combined market share of the US, UK, Australia and Canada will continue to drop slowly in the next years, from the current 40 per cent towards the projected 35 per cent by the end of the decade.

    If the current US administration continues on its unpredictable path (student visa appointments were paused for an extended period in 2025, before expanded social media vetting for students was announced in June), the UK, Australia, Canada, along with an array of places seeking to become international study hubs, could benefit.

    The US’ new partial bans on student visas from countries such as Nigeria may also prove advantageous for the UK.

    Figures from IIE in late 2025 showed that overall new international student numbers in the US fell by 7 per cent to 277,118. The picture is complicated however. While the number of new graduate students fell by 15 per cent, figures for new undergraduates actually grew by 5 per cent.

    Our own analysis suggested that, if OPT (Optional Practical Training) numbers are outstripped from the total US numbers, international student figures in the US could decline to such an extent that the UK would become the number one destination for international students in the world by 2030.

    In December 2025, the federal government in Canada announced more details of its $1.7 billion Canada Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative. It follows European initiatives in seeking to recruit scientists, particularly from the US, in the face of funding cuts at home. China has also launched its own visa, seeking to attract talented scientists. This visa (the K-visa) gives applicants with a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or those engaged in STEM research or education at a recognised institution flexible entry into the country, without the need for employer sponsorship.

    Policies like these are designed to win talent that would otherwise be in the US, and the UK might also benefit among students and scholars who would previously have opted for the US.

    A cap on numbers?

    Canada’s new cap on international students, announced in November 2025, has seen cap numbers reduced from around 300,000 last year to 155,000 in 2026, but notably, it will not include master’s students. In Australia, some two dozen providers are already over the 80 per cent threshold of their New Overseas Student Commencement allocations for 2026.

    Policies such as this could also end up benefiting the UK.

    This all being said, the final impact of the international student levy, as well as the likely boost from re-association with Erasmus+ could alter the overall result for the UK in varied ways.

    Ahead of rejoining the Erasmus+ programme by 2027, the new Basic Compliance Assessment rules on international applications in the UK could see universities punished for high visa refusal and completion rates. This is likely to damage the diversity of international cohorts on UK campuses – some institutions have already publicly said they will not recruit from ‘high risk’ countries in the next year in order to protect the integrity of the sector.

    Australia’s minister Clare repeatedly decried the ‘shonks’ taking advantage of international students during Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party’s first term in Australia. Subsequently, the government brought in changes to ensure that prospective students are genuine students, avoiding those who are supposedly seeking ‘to cheat the system in order to enter Australia’. Clare’s speeches since the re-election in 2025 have been much more supportive.

    International education advocates in other countries will hope that language such as this will be tempered in 2026, as the systems that study destinations have put in place begin to see results.

    This year could well be the year that international education bounces back.

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  • How Colleges Hope to Approach International Higher Ed in 2026

    How Colleges Hope to Approach International Higher Ed in 2026

    Colleges and universities are deep in the first admissions cycle since the Trump administration dramatically disrupted the landscape for international students in the United States, and experts say that the past year has altered how they’re recruiting this year—and perhaps beyond.

    Amid uncertainty about what the future may bring for international higher education, institutions are investing in new recruitment strategies or looking at new ways to reach international students, according to international education experts. That may involve recruiting more from countries that weren’t as affected by visa delays, forging new partnerships with international recruiting agencies or launching new branch campuses to reach international students in their home countries.

    Anthony C. Ogden, founder and managing director at Gateway International Group, an international higher education firm, said he’s heard from a swath of institutions in recent months that are considering shaking up their international recruitment strategies as a result of the tumult of the past year.

    “And that’s not unique to a certain section of higher ed,” he said. “It’s from the Big Tens to smaller institutions. Everybody’s considering different partners.”

    In the year since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has, among other things, revoked students’ SEVIS records, implemented travel bans, advocated for institutions to cap the number of international students they admit, attempted to disallow Harvard University from hosting international students and frozen visa interviews for about three weeks, creating a backlog that has made it incredibly difficult to secure an appointment in many countries once interviews resumed. Further restrictions are expected on how long international students can stay in the United States and on Optional Practical Training, which allows international students to work in the country for up to three years after completing their schooling.

    The number of new international students enrolled college in the U.S. this past fall dipped 17 percent as compared to the year before. Although surveys show international students still want to study in the U.S., they worry that they could have their visas revoked or face discrimination here.

    Those fears, as well as concerns about securing a visa, have also influenced how students and their families are approaching the admissions process this year, international education leaders say. Many are still applying to U.S. universities, but an increasing number of students and families are developing backup plans, applying to institutions in other countries like the United Kingdom or Australia, said Samira Pardanani, associate vice president for international education and global engagement at Shoreline Community College.

    “I think students are interested in more flexibility, and universities that used to not be very flexible, I’m seeing more flexibility,” she said. “What we’re seeing is students are looking for that low-risk start.”

    International Innovations

    But this precariousness and demand for flexibility could lead to new innovations in how institutions engage with international students, Ogden said.

    “If we can’t bring students here, should we go to them, either on-site in-country or remotely in some ways? I think there’s some optimism there and when new modalities and new approaches—what we saw in the pandemic—comes out, some of that moves from the periphery to the mainstream,” he said. “Is that a Pollyannaish way of looking into January 2026?”

    The University of Cincinnati, for one, is leaning in to new strategies to attract international students to its campus, according to Jack Miner, UC’s vice provost for enrollment management. The institution is exploring partnerships with schools in other nations—both high schools, which can funnel applicants to UC, and colleges where students can start a degree before transferring to the Ohio university.

    Partnering with institutions rather than recruiting broadly across an entire country, Miner said, gives UC access to students who are already aware of and interested in studying in the U.S., removing a hurdle in the recruitment process. UC already has such partnerships in China and Vietnam but is planning to expand.

    “What these partnerships has done for us is essentially streamline those conversations, because the students always end up knowing peers who have come to the U.S. or come to the University of Cincinnati. You know 20 students in the grade before you … or you have an older brother or sister that came to the university,” he said. “So that conversation about what it’s like to study in the United States, what it’s like to be at the University of Cincinnati, is a much easier conversation because it’s in context.”

    It’s not just the Trump administration that has changed the international education landscape, said Liz Nino, executive director of international enrollment at Augustana College, a private Lutheran college in Illinois that began recruiting large numbers of international students in 2013. She said that visa appointment delays this year did seem to impact Augustana—the college’s first-year international cohort declined about 16 percent this fall from fall 2024—but that problems with visa interviews stretch back to COVID-19.

    In recent years, she said, the “flood” of students who are interested in studying in the U.S. is more than U.S. embassies can handle, leading to interview wait times as long as a year and a half in certain countries. Currently, she said, she’s working with about 10 students from Ghana who were hoping to enroll in fall 2025 but had to defer to spring 2026; now it appears they may not be able to secure visas until October.

    Such issues have influenced how Augustana recruits international students.

    “This has been a huge challenge for U.S. universities because, as you can imagine, we’ve invested so much. I used to travel to Ghana once, sometimes twice a year, and now we’ve had to pull back because we cannot be putting so many resources into a market where we know that students simply cannot enroll,” Nino said.

    The unpredictability can also be reflected in university budgets, said George F. Kacenga, vice president for enrollment management at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

    “One of the most important things we can do, as enrollment managers, from my perspective, is give a forecast that is reliable so that a sound budget can be built,” Kacenga said. “In certain times, I might be aspirational about what I think that incoming number [of international students] looks like or share certain stretch goals. But right now, at least for myself and I think most of my colleagues, we are being very conservative in those international enrollment numbers.”

    Deferred Students

    The ultimate fates of students who were unable to secure visas in time for the fall 2025 semester appear to vary by institution.

    Cornell University ended up having only a small number of students—primarily in graduate programs—who weren’t able to make it for the fall. Of that number, almost all will arrive for the spring semester.

    “We feel like students were able to get to campus and were really relieved about the visa pressures not being as bad as we thought,” said Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs at Cornell.

    William Paterson had dozens of deferrals from fall 2025 to spring 2026 due to visa issues, Kacenga said. It’s not yet clear how many of those students will make it by the start of classes later this month, he said, but there has been “a lot of continued interest from those students.”

    William Paterson also offered those students the opportunity to begin their coursework online until they’re able to secure visas, but Kacenga said students were generally uninterested in that option.

    “There was too much uncertainty about actually being able to get here for the spring that people didn’t want to have a lost semester or an investment, and I’ve heard that story from institution types located all over the country,” he said. “So, a valiant effort to rally and support the students, but because of the uncertainty principle, it just wasn’t a smart choice for many folks.”

    Fanta Aw, CEO and executive director of NAFSA, said in an email to Inside Higher Ed that visa delays have persisted, especially in China and India, the two largest suppliers of international students in the U.S. As a result, she wrote, it’s likely that most students who didn’t get visas in time to come in the fall opted to begin their studies elsewhere.

    “The losses seen this past fall will continue to be felt for the foreseeable future as a decline in enrollments is not a one-term issue, but will have a compounding effect,” she wrote. “It is vitally important for the administration to reverse course if it wishes for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America.”

    Aw and other experts expect visa delays to continue, but they say that, because there is so little new enrollment in the spring semester, those numbers won’t indicate much about the state of visa processing. Instead, the fall 2026 numbers will offer more insights into whether these delays were just a blip or if they’ll have a longer-term impact on international higher education.

    As institutions begin to dole out acceptances this year, Kacenga said, he has been emphasizing to prospective and admitted students the importance of starting the college application and visa processes early.

    “We’re helping students understand the urgency to complete your process to get admitted early—it’s not just about getting your class selection that you want or the housing arrangements that you’re most interested in,” he said. “It’s about doing it early so that you have the runway that you need for the immigration process.”

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