United States Australia
Total Enrolment 19 430 382 12 853 627 1 012 210 Total Foreign Students 1 117 735 583 323 179 619 % Foreign of all Students 5.8 4.6 17.7 Sources: UNESCO/EUROSTAT/EURODATA
The above table reveals that Europe is the leading destination of foreign students studying outside their own country. The number of foreign students in the 32 EURODATA countries is almost double as high as that of the US, which are often quoted as the chief destination of foreign students worldwide. Even when deducting the foreign students in the seven non-EU countries, the figure falls only marginally, to just over a million (1 039 428). The EURODATA region also leads the US in terms of the percentage of foreign students of all students enrolled. It can, however, not compete with Australia, and its impressive share of nearly 18%.
However, the above data are no serious indicator for the relative attractiveness of Europe as a study destination. Two factors lead to a distorted view.
First, in order to be able to seriously compare European numbers with those in the US and Australia, one needs to deduct the mobility between EURODATA countries from the EURODATA total of foreign students. Some 42% of the above total is made up of students from EURODATA countries, 54% are from other countries, and the origin of a further 4% is unknown. This almost halves the number of students that Europe (the EURODATA region) attracts from outside, to about 600 000.
Second, a substantial share of foreign students in EURODATA countries has not been mobile in order to become a student in their country of study. They are foreign nationals who were born and raised in the country of study. Although reliable data are hard to get at, it is fairly clear that the share of such students is higher in Europe than elsewhere. However, most of the students in question are nationals of other EURODATA countries, and thus already included in the above reduction.
Table 1.2: Foreign Tertiary Students and Total Enrolment by Host Region (non-EURODATA Origins only) – 2002/03
EURODATA Region
United States Australia
Total Enrolment 18 916 234 12 853 627 1 012 210 Total Foreign Students 600 634 583 323 179 619 % Foreign of all Students 3.2 4.6 17.7
Sources: UNESCO/IIE (Open Doors)/EURODATA
Based on the 54% share of non-EURODATA students, the picture looks remarkably different, as Table 1.2 shows. The number of foreign students in the EURODATA region is now more or less on par with that in the US. The share of foreign students of all students in the EURODATA region is now only about 70% of that in the US. And even this value does not reflect Europe’s relative attractiveness adequately, since participation of the relevant age group in higher education in the US is higher than in Europe, which artificially lowers the percentage of foreign students in the US. In terms of the percentage of foreign students of all students, Australia remains an unchallenged leader.
Table 1.3: Distribution of Foreign Tertiary Students by Region of Origin in Percent (non- EURODATA Origins only) – 2002/03
EURODATA Region
United States Australia
Africa 31 7 4 North America 6 5 7 South America 8 12 1 Asia (inclusive of Mid-East and Oceania) 40 57 77 Europe n.a. 13 11 Non-EURODATA Europe 15 n.a. n.a.
Source: UNESCO/IIE (Open Doors)/EURODATA
Table 1.3 gives an insight into the regional origin of foreign students in the EURODATA region, in the US and in Australia. The data for the EURODATA region include only students from outside of the 32 EURODATA countries. Asian students are the single largest group in all three cases, although their percentage in Australia is almost double as high as in the EURODATA region. However, since Australia’s total number of foreign students is only about a third of that in the US and in the EURODATA countries, the highest absolute number of Asian students studies in the US. African students play only a minor role in the US and Australia, but they make up
almost one third of all foreign students in the EURODATA countries (although they are concentrated in a few countries only). Latin American students are only a small share in all three regions/countries, although their relative importance is much higher in the US than elsewhere.
1.2.
Foreign students in Europe
As stated above, in the academic year 2002/03, there were 1 117 735 foreign students in all EURODATA countries, and 1 039 428 in the EU-25. How were these students distributed?
As table 1.4 displays, foreign students in Europe are by no means equally spread across countries. Of the total of 1 117 735 foreign students in all 32 EURODATA countries, 1 039 428 (or 93%) study in the 25 European Union countries. The share of the seven remaining countries is thus small.
Of the total of foreign students in the EURODATA zone (from inside and outside this area), almost two thirds (64% or 717 419) study in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. This concentration is remarkable by any standard. The three countries’ share of all students in the EURODATA zone, is, for example, only 34%, indicating that the UK, France and Germany attract double as many foreign students compared to the home student population than the EURODATA zone average. This distribution concerns all foreign students in the EURODATA zone (i.e. inclusive of students of EURODATA origins). It is near-identical with the distribution of students with non-EURODATA origins.
The ten new member states of the Union attract very few foreign students. Their total number in 2002/03 was a very modest 42 655, which corresponds to a share of slightly under 4% of all foreign students in the EURODATA zone. The picture is not much better for Southern Europe. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece together host 117 715 foreign students, or 10%, whereas their share of all students enrolled in the EURODATA zone is almost one quarter. Again, the distribution mentioned concerns all foreign students, but the distribution of non-EURODATA foreign students does not fundamentally differ from this pattern.
Moreover, there are very different patterns regarding the countries and regions of origin of foreign students in the 32 EURODATA countries. Geographical proximity and historical ties do influence student flows –between EURODATA countries, but also into the EURODATA zone from elsewhere in the world. Students from Eastern European non-EURODATA countries (Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, etc) have a strong presence in most new member states and in Austria and Germany, whereas they play no major role elsewhere. Two thirds of all students from Africa in all EURODATA countries study in Belgium and France, which have a colonial history on this continent.
Table 1.4: Foreign tertiary students in EURODATA countries 2002/2003