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Heading overseas for a degree
The number of students going overseas to study at university has doubled since 1995 to 2.7 million, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- By Jon Boone in London, Financial Times
- Published: 00:00 November 23, 2006
- The US took in 22 per cent of all international students, the UK 11 per cent, Germany 10 per cent and France nine per cent.
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The number of students going overseas to study at university has doubled since 1995 to 2.7 million, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
More than half of these students chose campuses in just four countries. The US took in 22 per cent of all international students, the UK 11 per cent, Germany 10 per cent and France nine per cent.
Asian and European students from countries within the OECD group of 26 wealthy countries dominated the international intakes: Japanese students represented 2.8 per cent and South Korean ones 4.3 per cent, followed by students from France and Germany at 2.6 per cent each.
But China, a non-OECD member, was the single biggest exporter of students, accounting for 15.2 per cent of international students, followed by India with 5.7 per cent.
Despite the overall increase in foreign students, the US suffered what the OECD described as a significant fall in its share of the market although separate US figures show a recovery in the number of postgraduate students last year.
In 2000 the US had 25 per cent of the world's foreign students compared to 23 per cent in 2004, the year for which latest information is available.
Its lead has been eroded in part by fierce competition from other Anglo-Saxon countries, but also by non-English speaking countries.
The biggest increases in market share went to Australia, France, Japan and New Zealand. Traditionally Anglophone countries have fared well as foreign students are often attracted to overseas universities as much by the chance to learn English as by the courses themselves.
However, many countries, in particular Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, have started offering courses taught and assessed in English to appeal to the international student market.
With many countries, particularly those that do not currently charge foreign students, looking to raise fees for foreign students the relatively high costs of US degrees may also have had an effect.
At $12,000 a year, the average level of fees charged to international students in public institutions in the US is higher than the $11,000 average in Australia or Canada's fees of $8,000.
However, the UK, the second biggest market for international students, is the most expensive at $18,000.
Popular destination
Although the US remains the most popular destination for international students, only three per cent of the student body is from overseas. That is around half the OECD average and far lower than Australia's 17 per cent and the UK's 13 per cent.
The report also found that nearly all countries have seen an increase in the earnings advantage for university graduates, even in countries where the expansion of tertiary education has been extremely rapid.
Among the countries in which the number of people with degrees grew by five per cent, Spain was the only country in which there was significant decline in the wages graduates earn.
In the US, the earnings advantage for 25 to 64 year olds, relative to people who have only secondary school qualifications, increased from 68 per cent in 1997 to 72 per cent by 2004.
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