What International Students Think About U.S. Higher Education

As someone who has taught abroad (at a vocational college in Tokyo, Japan), I am interested to know what foreigners think about our higher educational system, and vice versa. I decided to research this topic on Google, and magically did appear the following survey article: What International Students Think About U.S. Higher Education: Attitudes and Perceptions of Prospective Students in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

This report was prepared by Patricia Chow of the Institute of International Education, and recently released in May of 2011. This non-profit organization is 92 years old, and its main office is quartered in the United Nations Plaza in New York City. The study was funded by a grant by the U.S. State Department. The Institute joined with Education USA in producing this report (a network of more than 400 advising centers around the world situated in U.S. Embassies and Consulates, national Universities, libraries, and other entities), and received 9,330 valid student survey responses from Vietnam, India, Mexico, Thailand, Hong Kong, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and South Africa from 2009 through fall of 2010.

The survey sought to explore answers to such questions as: What attracts students from other countries to study in the U.S.? What course of study do they intend to pursue? Do they prefer the U.S. to other key destinations? What are the perceived barriers facing students who wish to study in the U.S.? Both online and paper surveys were disseminated to students within the foreign countries themselves, from contacts established via local Institute of International Education and Education USA network offices.

Key Report Findings Included:

• the U.S. is the destination of choice for the vast majority of respondents worldwide, with three-quarters (75 percent!) of prospective students reporting the U.S. as their top choice; the next favorite destinations included the United Kingdom (8.4%), Canada (5.0%), Australia (3.0%), France (1.4%), Germany (1.0%), Spain (1.0%), Japan (1.0%), New Zealand (0.7%), Sweden (0.4%), Italy (0.3%), Singapore (0.3%), and China (0.3%)
  
• over three-quarters (76 percent) of prospective students worldwide perceived the U.S. to have a high quality higher education system
• over three-quarters (76 percent) of prospective students worldwide feel the U.S. has a wide range of schools and programs to suit a variety of different students
• over two-thirds (69 percent) of prospective students worldwide feel that the U.S. welcomes international students
• cost was cited as the primary obstacle to overseas study by respondents in all countries; six in ten prospective students worldwide (60 percent) perceived tuition in the U.S. to be expensive
• half of respondents had concerns about obtaining a visa to study in the U.S. Responses varied by country, ranging from less than a quarter (22 percent) of students in Turkey to 59 percent of students in Brazil.

U.S. Higher Education Not Close to Meeting the Potential Demand

During the 2009/10 school year, the U.S. hosted a record high of over 690,000 international students. Although the U.S. market share has declined in the last decade, the U.S. nevertheless hosted far more international students than any other destination. The United Kingdom, the second most popular international study destination, hosted about 450,000 international students, two-thirds of the U.S. total. According to UNESCO, in 2008, the top five study destinations (the U.S., the U.K., France, Australia and Germany) hosted 55 percent of the world’s postsecondary foreign student populations.

Despite the high degree of foreign student satisfaction according to the report findings above, and our nation's pre-eminent status as the destination of choice internationally, the U.S. is nevertheless merely scratching the surface with respect to meeting potential international student demand. According to the Institute of International Education Report, the proportion of international students to overall higher education enrollment in the U.S. (currently at less than 4%) remains quite small compared to other top host countries, although the percentage is higher at the graduate level (11 percent). Furthermore, in 2009/10, over 62 percent of international students in the U.S. were hosted at fewer than 200 colleges and universities. With over 4,000 institutions of higher education in the U.S., there is tremendous potential for more institutions to host more international students, particularly at the undergraduate and non-degree levels (NOTE: UNC currently hosts about 300 international students, according to UNC Recruiting and International Admissions Coordinator Graham Douglas).

Interestingly, survey respondents perceived the quality of U.S. higher educational student support services to be far better than any other nation's, with 56.9% ranking our general level of services as "good" (next was Canada at 29.6%, the U.K. at 26.0%, Australia at 17.9%, and so forth).

Perceived Barriers to Studying in the U.S.

Although the U.S. is a much sought-after location for postsecondary international study, there are certain factors that currently serve to especially limit the number of incoming students. These include comparatively high tuition costs (60.1% of respondents perceived our tuition as expensive, with only the U.K. at 51% being perceived as even remotely close); high cost of living (44.7% of respondents rated our general cost of living in the U.S.-which of course varies widely by region and campus location-as high; only the U.K was rated higher overall); and, our visa procedures were considered more difficult and/or complex than any other nation's, by far (49.3% of respondents thought so, with the U.K and Japan next at 23.2% and 18. 1%, respectively).

Of course, depending on your perspective, expanding foreign student enrollment isn't necessarily always a good thing, especially if such enrollment involves illegal recruiting efforts and the possible displacement of local student applicants who are not able to pay full tuition costs like many foreign students are able. In general, however, foreign students can add welcome vitality to any given institution of higher education, providing invaluable perspectives, knowledges, skill-sets, positive learning attitudes, and cross-cultural bridge-building opportunities. Per the findings of this report, it appears that there is still much our nation and respective postsecondary institutions can do to both improve and expand the higher educational experience for foreign students throughout the globe.