International Students in Higher Education

6. Emerging policy considerations

Abstract

This concluding chapter summarises the key trends and policy developments in relation to international students. Based on the evidence examined, it suggests four policy considerations for policymakers and relevant stakeholders.

Policy considerations

Based on the evidence analysed and the international policy examples and practices identified in this report, policymakers and stakeholders may wish to consider:

1. Steering enrolment by creating a predictable environment for students and institutions

2. Reducing dropout by strengthening academic adaptation, integration and wellbeing support

3. Supporting post-graduation transitions to the labour market and providing clear information on possibilities for longer-term stay

4. Strengthening evidence gathering and monitoring

Across the six comparator countries – Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – international student enrolment generally increased rapidly throughout the 2010s. After the sudden decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, countries initially recovered and returned to a growth path. International students account for a significant share of tertiary education enrolment and, in countries with high tuition fees (AUS, CAN, GBR), are an important source of funding for higher education institutions. This situation has made systems with high international enrolment vulnerable to geopolitical changes that affect student flows, while the rapid growth of recent years has created tensions in the political sphere, in intergovernmental dynamics and between policy areas, as efforts to curb the number of international students have increased. Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have all introduced migration-related policy changes and all saw a decline in the number of study visas/permits issued to international students in 2024, with issuance of new study visas/permits staying low in 2025 according to national data. As a result of self-regulation and policy changes in English-taught programmes, the number of international students has also stagnated in the Netherlands. The recalibration of policies and approaches towards international students is an opportune moment to also consider the experiences of international students and to better address the challenges they face.

This report has reviewed available literature to examine the experiences of international students through their study journey, from initial search for available study options all the way to post-graduation outcomes. The report focused on four groups of challenges faced by international students:

1. Choosing what to study, admission and arrival processes,

2. Study adaptation, progression and success,

3. Life in a new country and integration,

4. Post-graduation opportunities and possibilities.

Policy considerations for improving the experience of international students

The interconnectedness of policy in the field means that policymakers and stakeholders across policy areas (e.g. higher education, migration, labour, foreign affairs) and levels (e.g. national/federal, provincial/territorial/state, regional, local, institutional) often need to work closely together to effectively develop and implement policies to support international students. Based on the evidence analysed and the international policy examples and practices identified, it is possible to outline four main policy considerations of wider relevance to policymakers and stakeholders across countries hosting large numbers of international students.

Consideration 1. Steering enrolment by creating a predictable environment for students and institutions

Rapid growth in the intake of international students created a somewhat unpredictable environment for governments, which has, in turn, led to sudden and wide-ranging policy changes affecting the whole higher education sector in several of the reviewed countries. Policymakers should now ideally focus on stabilising the situation and creating a more predictable policy environment for both international students and the institutions that host them. This can be promoted through:

• Aligning promotion and recruitment messaging with realistic possibilities and opportunities for study, work and stay after graduation. This could be supported by widening the collection and publication of data on study visa/permit processing, study success, work while studying and stay-on rates.

• Consolidating and improving national information platforms. These platforms have an important role in providing accurate, comprehensive and multilingual information on study opportunities and life in the countries. Prospective international students would benefit from realistic information on study and living costs, clear information on the limits of available financial support, housing, study visa/permit processes and a realistic assessment of opportunities to stay on in the country after graduation.

• Ensuring recruitment integrity and quality pre-arrival support. Many countries already have compliance regulations and guidance for all institutions hosting international students, including guiding their use of education agents, their marketing practices, and what pre-arrival information and support they provide to students. Stakeholders might consider how best to further develop and enforce these regulations and guidance.

• Working to achieve a more balanced distribution of enrolment across programmes, institutions and regions by encouraging and steering international students to enrol in institutions and programmes based on transparent criteria. These criteria can consider available capacity, quality of education and available support services for international students, as well as regional development and labour-market needs. Policymakers and institutions can consider steering enrolment through a) promoting less-known study programmes, higher education institutions, cities and regions, b) providing field or region-specific scholarships and fee exemptions, c) prioritising study visa/permit processing for specific study fields, qualifications and regions, d) expanding post-graduation work rights for specific fields or regions, e) setting maximum allocations of study visas/permits or number of study places in a specific programme based on available capacity.

• Strengthening platforms for ongoing dialogue and consultations across policy areas and levels of governance, including various stakeholders. A wider consultation of proposed policy changes and assessment of policy implications could help with policy implementation. For this purpose, policymakers can consider to further strengthen existing platforms for cross-governmental collaboration on policy for international students and appropriately include sectoral stakeholders. This can include supporting initiatives to develop also representation of international students in policy making and implementation.

Consideration 2. Consideration 2. Reducing dropout by strengthening academic adaptation, integration and wellbeing support

Many international students struggle during the arrival period and in their initial months in the host country to navigate the new environment and different approaches to education and its organisation, which leads them to fall behind and, in some cases, even to drop out. Governments, higher education institutions and other stakeholders might assist international students by:

• Addressing gaps in preparedness early by expanding pre-arrival and on-arrival support and information. Academic adaptation can be facilitated by providing international entrants with information about the educational system, the organisation of studies, academic norms, and teaching and assessment approaches. To minimise gaps in preparedness, higher education institution could systematically assess existing knowledge and abilities of international students and provide feedback. Identified gaps can be bridged by preparatory and add-on courses, and academic and language support.

• Promoting closer contact and integration of international students in their academic and local community. Where possible, higher education institution could integrate programmes or their parts to jointly educate domestic and international students. Institutions can also encourage participation of international students in extracurricular activities and student associations. Together with local stakeholders, higher education institution can co-develop initiatives to connect international students with the local population through volunteering, community outreach and events.

• Assisting international students with non-academic challenges, through information, advice and counselling, that can be offered by the institutions or through local partnerships. When possible, assist international students in finding initial housing, within own accommodation or in collaboration with local actors, and in accessing basic services (e.g. insurance, registration, bank account, phone plan). Policymakers, institutions and other stakeholders may want to consider developing and expanding targeted financial aid systems, with scholarships, loans, grants and hardship funds, to provide financial security to vulnerable students. This could be potentially financed by revenue from tuition paid by international students. Where possible and when relevant, try to facilitate information on relevant part-time jobs. Higher education institutions and local stakeholders could consider how to best raise awareness about available support and how to encourage international students to use these, including mental health and wellbeing counselling.

Consideration 3. Supporting post-graduation transitions to the labour market and providing clear information on possibilities for longer-term stay

There is a gap between the number of international students who intend to stay and the number of graduates who remain in the country in the medium and long term, due to various challenges they encountered. The labour-market outcomes of international students are below those of domestic students, but the gap seems to narrow over time. The introduction of temporary post-graduation visas/permits provides an initial step to remain in the country but a transition to permanent residency is unlikely for most international students. As such, given the potential benefits of retaining domestically trained international talent, governments and other partners could work on improving post-graduation opportunities and possibilities by:

• Developing relevant professional networks and experiences, and career guidance for international students. Higher education institutions could consider how to best provide international students with relevant career counselling and how to facilitate networking. International students could be supported by information about the local, national and international labour market, available opportunities and employment and business regulations. Where possible and when relevant, higher education institutions could consider how to best facilitate engagement of international students with relevant labour-market actors. This can be done through embedded work experience (e.g. internships, work-based learning) as part of study programme that is organised by the institutions, through lectures and mentoring from external professionals, and through assignments developed and implemented with external partners. Stronger professional networks can be also supported by developing and strengthening alumni networks.

• Integrating international students into society. Relevant local stakeholders can encourage integration by providing language learning, cultural orientation, opportunities to contribute to local community and supporting integration activities, such as buddy or mentorship programmes pairing international students with locals. International students and graduates could better plan their lives if they receive clear information about realistic possibilities, pathways and integration criteria to stay in the host country long term after graduation.

• Informing employers and society. Clearer information for employers on hiring foreign nationals could help reduce uncertainty and improve access to jobs for international graduates. Policymakers may want to assess what formal or informal barriers there might be to employ foreign nationals in specific industries and sectors, for example within public sector. A more welcoming culture towards international students across society could be promoted by emphasising their contribution to the local economy and community.

Consideration 4. Consideration 4. Strengthening evidence gathering and monitoring

There are significant gaps in available evidence on international students and challenges they face. Better evidence collection would allow for more precise monitoring of the compliance of institutions hosting international students and provide information to prospective international students to inform their study choice, as well as a better evidence base for future policymaking. Policymakers may want to consider:

• Collecting more detailed evidence, including data on the enrolment patterns of international students, progression and completion rates, and their post-graduation labour-market outcomes and stay rates, as well as information on available student housing, wellbeing and financial situation of students. The evidence could be based on both administrative data and, when relevant, regular and ad hoc surveys and studies to monitor the experiences of international students. For example, France, as part of the 2024 immigration law created new requirements for reporting and publishing annual reports on international students.

• Providing more timely data on international students as much of the available data comes with significant time lags, many internationally comparable data is reported only two or three years later. Australia already provides monthly statistics on international student enrolment, while some other countries (AUS, CAN, GBR) provide monthly statistics on the number of issued study visas/permits, with much shorter reporting period.

• Connecting and harmonising data on international students. Relevant stakeholder could consider how best to link existing collected data in various domains, particularly education, immigration and labour-market statistics. Data collections and resulting statistics, where possible, could be internationally harmonised to allow comparison.