Comparative Data on Enrollment of Chinese and Indian Students in the US, the UK and Australia

Council of International Students Australia (Wikipedia)

by Rahul Choudaha, DrEducation: International Higher Education Blog: http://www.dreducation.com/2014/01/international-student-enrollment-us-UK-australia-comparative.html

Drivers of mobility of international students are complex, which makes it even more difficult to devise effective, long term recruitment strategies.

Consider the case of the global mobility of the top two sending countries - China and India.

While the growth of Chinese students to major destinations is a clear growth trend, many are still perplexed with decline in the enrollment of Indian students.

This becomes evident from the comparison of Indian and Chinese student enrollment in top three destinations - Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Comparative Data on Enrollment of Chinese and Indian Students in US, UK and Australia

Here are some of the trends:

1. Number of Chinese students showed a consistent pattern of growth, while Indian students showed a consistent decline
2. Number of Chinese students enrolling in the US increased at the fastest rate, while number of Indian students in Australia declined at the sharpest rate
3. Indian student mobility is highly concentrated in the US followed by UK and Australia. 73% of all Indian students headed to the US, UK or Australia were enrolled in the US
4. Chinese enrollment is more diversified with US as the preferred destination followed by Australia and the UK. 57% of all Chinese students headed to the US, UK or Australia were enrolled in the US

• What are the implications for international student recruitment strategies?
• What are the reasons for decline of Indian students going abroad to study in the US, Australia and UK?