Every year, nearly seven million students pack their bags and cross borders in search of world-class education, career opportunities, and a little adventure according to ICEF. Where exactly are they heading?
A new study from location-sharing app iSharing shows that the UK and US dominate the leaderboard, with London and New York emerging as global magnets for talent.
“Schools in the UK, US, and Europe serve as gateways that bring global talent directly into their economies. Many international students who come for education end up staying for employment, creating a brain gain effect,” says a spokesperson from iSharing.
The study ranked universities using three key metrics: the number of international students (how many people from abroad are enrolled); the percentage of international students (how global the campus feels); and academic reputation (how respected the institution is worldwide).
LEADERS OF GLOBAL ENROLLMENT
Imperial College London leads in proportion, with 60% (6 out of 10) of its student body coming from abroad, while New York University enrolls over 27,000 international students, which is the highest absolute number of students in the world. That means NYU has more international students than any other university, regardless of the total size of its student body.
Overall, British universities are winning the international student game – Imperial College London, King’s College London, and the University of Oxford all rank in the top five. Imperial has enrolled 12.5K international students, and its academic reputation sits at a near-perfect 99.6%. King’s College London hosts 23K international students, which is 54% of its total enrollment, while Oxford boasts the highest possible academic reputation score of 100.
Across the Atlantic, NYU’s international footprint is unmatched. With 44.8% of its student body coming from abroad and a staggering 27,250 international students on campus, it’s the most globally enrolled university on the planet.
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