A New Era in International Enrollment

Inside Higher Ed

Liam Knox

November 18, 2024

International student enrollment grew by 6.6 percent in the 2023–24 academic year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to a new Open Doors report from the Institute for International Education. Mirka Martel, IIE’s head of research, said on a press call last Wednesday that the 1,126,690 international students in the U.S. last year were the most since IIE began keeping track.

International students accounted for 5.9 percent of the total U.S. higher education population in 2023–24. But the number of first-time international students only grew by 0.1 percent, a marked difference from the 14 percent increase in first-timers in 2022–23, when the total international student population grew by 17 percent.

For the first time since 2009, China was not the top source of international students in the U.S. That spot now belongs to India, which saw a 23.3 percent increase; Indians now make up just shy of 30 percent of foreign students enrolled at American universities. International enrollment from China fell by 4.3 percent over all and 12.8 percent at the undergraduate level, a precipitous decline that builds on years of waning interest from Chinese applicants. Despite this, China remained the No. 1 source country for undergraduate students.

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