Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    Student Housing
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
News

Even Before the Travel Ban, Signs of Weakening Interest From Students Abroad

By Karin Fischer February 9, 2017
Education officials from the Illinois Institute of Technology talk with visitors at a recruiting fair in Beijing. Graduate-school applications to American universities from overseas students increased by only 1 percent last year, suggesting global markets were already rattled before President Trump took office.
Education officials from the Illinois Institute of Technology talk with visitors at a recruiting fair in Beijing. Graduate-school applications to American universities from overseas students increased by only 1 percent last year, suggesting global markets were already rattled before President Trump took office.Imaginechina, AP Images

New data suggest the flow of foreign students was already ebbing even before the Trump administration imposed a travel ban on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, sparking concern that anti-global attitudes could depress international recruitment.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Education officials from the Illinois Institute of Technology talk with visitors at a recruiting fair in Beijing. Graduate-school applications to American universities from overseas students increased by only 1 percent last year, suggesting global markets were already rattled before President Trump took office.
Education officials from the Illinois Institute of Technology talk with visitors at a recruiting fair in Beijing. Graduate-school applications to American universities from overseas students increased by only 1 percent last year, suggesting global markets were already rattled before President Trump took office.Imaginechina, AP Images

New data suggest the flow of foreign students was already ebbing even before the Trump administration imposed a travel ban on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, sparking concern that anti-global attitudes could depress international recruitment.

A new report from the Council of Graduate Schools shows that the number of students from overseas enrolling in American graduate programs in the fall of 2016 grew by 5 percent, the same rate as in the previous year.

Trump and Immigration
Coverage of how the president’s executive order barring all refugees and citizens of six Muslim countries from entering the United States affects higher education.
  • Even in Limbo, Trump’s Travel Ban Reverberates
  • Trump’s New Order on Visas Could Make American Colleges Less Appealing Overseas
  • 6 Reasons Trump’s ‘Extreme Vetting’ of Travelers May Already Be the Norm

Applications from abroad, however, increased by an anemic 1 percent. Trend lines from the two largest sending countries are particularly troubling: First-time enrollments from China flatlined, while those from India tumbled 7 percent, following several years of double-digit growth. Together, the two countries account for half of all international students, and nearly two-thirds of first-time international graduate students, on American campuses.

Interest in the most popular field, engineering, also fell, by 3 percent. One out of four foreign graduate students majors in engineering.

The findings come with several caveats. The report, of course, covers only graduate students, or about 37 percent of the more than one million international students in the United States. And those students were applying to, and even beginning their studies at, American colleges when few political prognosticators gave Donald J. Trump strong odds of winning the presidency. So, despite his sometimes nativist campaign rhetoric, it is unlikely that the billionaire businessman had a direct impact on 2016’s enrollment totals.

The ‘Trump Effect’

But the lack of an obvious “Trump effect” makes the results of the international-enrollment survey even more troubling, as it suggests other factors could be weakening interest in key global markets. The number of new students from Brazil and Saudi Arabia, for instance, fell by 9 percent and 13 percent, respectively, after the governments of those two countries curtailed costly national scholarship programs.

Concern about a brain drain and about exposure to Western values, meanwhile, has led China to invest in improving its own universities. Communist Party officials have also sought to halt the explosive growth of internationally focused high-school programs, which have become a fertile pipeline to overseas study. And enrollments from India have long been volatile, shifting with economic and employment prospects, both at home and in the United States.

“We may be reaching a point,” the report warns, “where we will see fewer surges of overall international graduate enrollment and observe more modest changes over time.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Into that mix comes President Trump, who just a week into his presidency ordered a 90-day ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — and suspended the admission of refugees into the United States. (The executive order is currently on hold, while it is being challenged in court.)

Trump is such a loose cannon that all it might take is one tweet about Chinese students taking all the spots at American colleges, and China could blow up.

While the affected countries account for fewer than 2 percent of all international students on American campuses, college officials worry about the travel ban’s signaling power. Even before Mr. Trump took office, a survey of prospective students found that two-thirds would think twice about studying in America were he to be elected.

“Trump is such a loose cannon,” said Jiang Xueqin, an educational consultant in China, “that all it might take is one tweet about Chinese students taking all the spots at American colleges, and China could blow up.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Future policy directives from the White House — on trade, say, or immigration policy — could also discourage international enrollments. If Mr. Trump were to put limits on the H-1B visa program for highly skilled workers, that could cause students, from India in particular, who seek postgraduate work experience to stay home or to consider studying in other countries.

That could hit American colleges’ bottom line because both undergraduates and master’s-degree students typically pay full freight on their tuition. Moody’s Investors Service estimates that a disproportionate share of net tuition revenue, as much as 10 percent, collected by American colleges comes from international students.

Karin Fischer writes about international education, colleges and the economy, and other issues. She’s on Twitter @karinfischer, and her email address is karin.fischer@chronicle.com.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
International
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
Fischer_Karin.jpg
About the Author
Karin Fischer
Karin Fischer writes about international education and the economic, cultural, and political divides around American colleges. She’s on the social-media platform X @karinfischer, and her email address is karin.fischer@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

UCLA students, researchers and demonstrators rally during a "Kill the Cuts" protest against the Trump administration's funding cuts on research, health and higher education at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles on April 8, 2025.
Scholarship & Research
Trump Proposed Slashing the National Science Foundation’s Budget. A Key Senate Committee Just Refused.
Illustration of a steamroller rolling over a colorful road and leaving gray asphalt in its wake.
Newly Updated
Oregon State U. Will End a Renowned Program That Aimed to Reduce Bias in Hiring
Dr. Gregory Washington, president of George Mason University.
Another probe
George Mason President Discriminated Against White People After George Floyd Protests, Justice Dept. Says
Protesters gather outside the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 14, 2025 to protest the Trump administrations cuts at the agency.
An Uncertain Future
The Education Dept. Got a Green Light to Shrink. Here Are 3 Questions About What’s Next.

From The Review

Photo-based illustration with repeated images of a student walking, in the pattern of a graph trending down, then up.
The Review | Opinion
7 Ways Community Colleges Can Boost Enrollment
By Bob Levey
Illustration of an ocean tide shaped like Donald Trump about to wash away sandcastles shaped like a college campus.
The Review | Essay
Why Universities Are So Powerless in Their Fight Against Trump
By Jason Owen-Smith
Photo-based illustration of a closeup of a pencil meshed with a circuit bosrd
The Review | Essay
How Are Students Really Using AI?
By Derek O'Connell

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin