A majority of colleges report an increase in international applications
International applications to American colleges are continuing to climb, but the post-pandemic enrollment bump may be subsiding.
A little more than half of colleges surveyed by the Institute of International Education said overseas applications increased for fall 2024. But that’s a smaller share than in 2023 and 2022, when applications rose at 61 and 65 percent of colleges, respectively.
About a third of colleges reported falling numbers, while 17 percent said they were steady.
The institute, known as IIE, began conducting a spring survey of American colleges during Covid to provide more immediate information to supplement its annual Open Doors census. Here are a couple of other international-student trends worth flagging:
China may be fading — as a source and as a priority. Just a quarter of colleges said applications from China were on the rise, while nearly half saw growth from India, which has supplanted China as the largest source of foreign students in the United States.
China also trails India as a priority for student recruitment. Interestingly, colleges named India as a top market for undergraduate and graduate recruitment, even though India supplies five times as many graduate students to the U.S. as undergraduates.
Applications from sub-Saharan Africa soared. But will that lead to commensurate increases in enrollment? A large share of colleges said applications from Ghana and Nigeria jumped. Still, U.S. visa-denial rates of more than 55 percent in the region mean that interest doesn’t necessarily yield as many actual students.
Applications were also up from Bangladesh and Nepal, colleges told IIE.
When it comes to reaching students, colleges were as likely to use recruitment agents as to hold in-person events overseas. Fifty-eight percent of colleges surveyed use agents as a recruitment strategy, while at the undergraduate level, 57 percent traveled to college fairs or regional expos in students’ home countries. (In-person events were not among the top six measures for recruiting graduate students.)
The frequency of agent use is evidence of the normalization of a once-controversial recruitment practice. Alumni, current international students, and social media were also common channels for engagement with prospective students.
