The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest Education at a Glance report says English-speaking countries are the most attractive to international students. Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States received more than 40 percent of all mobile students in OECD and partner countries.

The report examines education systems across 36 OECD countries and various partner countries. It found that students from Asia formed the largest group of international students, representing 56 percent of all mobile students. Furthermore, two-thirds of Asian students converged on only five countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Key highlights:

• The share of internationally mobile students across OECD countries increased by 2 percentage points between 2010 and 2017.
• In OECD countries, there were 3.7 million international or foreign students in 2017, six percent more than in 2016.
• Students become more mobile as they reach more advanced levels of education. International students account for only four percent of total enrollment in bachelor’s programs, but they represent 22 percent of enrollment in doctoral programs.  
• Besides Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Germany, France, and the Russian Federation were popular study destinations for mobile students.

Link:

• To read OECD’s report in full, see Education at a Glance 2019.