AMSTERDAM, Nov 12 - International students are turning away from the United States and Britain in favour of universities in Asia and continental Europe, a global university survey showed on Thursday, as tighter visa rules redraw the global map of higher education.
International students typically pay far higher fees than domestic ones and are a major source of revenue, helping offset their host countries' teaching and research costs.
Britain and the US recorded the steepest drops in international undergraduate numbers, down 19% and 13%, respectively in the October-August period compared with the same period a year earlier, the survey of 437 universities in 63 countries conducted by Studyportals, NAFSA and Oxford Test of English showed.
Canada and Australia also saw weaker demand, while universities in Asia and Europe reported stronger international enrolment growth, they said. Studyportals is a Netherlands-based student recruitment platform, NAFSA is a US-based nonprofit that advocates for international education, and the Oxford Test of English is run by Oxford University Press.
US institutions were the most pessimistic about the outlook, with more than a third expecting enrolments to decline further in the coming years.
The survey found that visa restrictions and government policies were the biggest barriers to recruitment, with processing delays, tougher screening and changes to post-study work rules prompting students to defer or abandon plans…
