Whilst the numbers of
international students
have been dropping recently in the UK, the same can’t be said for those
looking at studying in the US.
Trump’s return to the White House has caused a worldwide controversy but
latest reports from the IDP Education research survey show that Trump has
improved the US in the eyes of international students.
In order for international students to make the decision to move abroad to
study, there must be lots of drawing factors and it’s safe to say America
has always been seen as a big and shiny place to start afresh.
Simon Emmett, IDP chief partner officer, told The PIE News,“The
strong interest from prospective students and applicants reinforces that
the US has ongoing appeal as a top destination due to its high quality of
education and job prospects.”
Improvement in perception
The students seemingly most impressed by Trump’s re-election are students
from Bangladesh. The surveys showed this country had the biggest
“improvement in perception of the US,” with 64% saying that the appeal of
the country had increased since the election.
Other countries that showed similar interest were India with 48% and China
at 27%.
American appeal
The US-China Education Trust, suggests that so many Chinese students move
to the US to study because of “the chance to experience life in another
country, greater freedom in choosing what to study, and the opportunity to
improve career prospects.”
For students, “The high quality of US education, the reputation of its
institutions and the availability of cutting-edge technology” were the
factors reportedly seen as most attractive to them when looking at moving
to the US to study, in the IDP survey.
One size doesn’t fit all
Despite an increased appeal to some international students, not all feel
the same about Trump’s re-election.
Simon Emmett said that, “there is no ‘one size fits all’” when it comes to
international students. Especially considering that different regional
students will have significantly different priorities. The IDP chief
partner officer says, “International students have very different
motivations, ambitions and concerns when it comes to studying abroad.”
Regional variation
According to thepienews.com, due to different priorities and also political
beliefs, if Trump’s widely expected
travel ban
is to be implemented, “27% of Chinese respondents” and “23% of Pakistani
respondents” indicated they would no longer consider studying in the US.
This travel ban would also impact how international students would view the
country, as “nearly two-thirds” of the survey’s respondents said their
perception of the US as a “welcoming” destination would “worsen” if the ban
was enforced.
Lowest pull factors
On top of the travel ban, some other factors dissuading international
students from studying in the US were pulled up in the report.
“Pathways to permanent residency, post-graduation work visas and
international student diversity were considered the study destination’s
lowest pull factors in the IDP study”, says
thepienews.com.
