The following is a guest post contributed by Keystone Education Group.Keystone Education Group’s 2025 data reveals a dynamic year for international student mobility, with some sharp declines across traditional powerhouses alongside rapid growth in emerging destinations.Keystone’s data, drawn from millions of annual student search indicators and enrolment data, shows how international student mobility is increasingly being shaped by a combination of supply-side policies and demand-side preferences among students.Fredrik Högemark, CEO of Keystone Education Group, said: “This year has been one of the most volatile we’ve tracked in our data. Students are weighing affordability and safety more than ever, and as…

More than 1.2 million Indian students were enrolled in higher education abroad in 2025 – a hefty number, yet a smaller one than in recent years. The 2025 data released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shows that there were -5.7% fewer Indian students abroad this year compared with 2024, when the volume was 1.33 million.The decline dovetails with a longer pattern of slower outbound growth from China. Educators in major destination countries have been mitigating the Chinese trend by leaning more heavily into recruiting in India. But the new data shows that relying too heavily on India for…

Halting migration might sound like a quick fix to Australia’s housing and economic woes, but the real outcome would be stalled growth, lost jobs and rising costs across the nation, writes Dr Abul Rizvi. A RECENT Resolve Poll finds that 53% of Australians want immigration paused. The only time in modern Australian history that we have had something akin to an immigration pause was 2020-21, when the Government used emergency health powers to largely close international borders. Net migration fell to negative 88,760, although the permanent migration program was delivered at 160,052 and the permanent humanitarian program at a historically…

The Department of Home Affairs – Temporary Graduate Visa: Supporting Career Pathways for International Students in Australia – 10/12/2025The Temporary Graduate Visa (TGV) is an important component of Australia’s international education offerings, providing a pathway from study to skilled employment. The TGV allows graduates to use their qualification to progress their career in Australia and supports the transition from education to the workforce. The TGV offers graduates the chance to apply their knowledge in real-world settings, gain local experience and build professional connections in Australia. The length of stay on the TGV varies, depending on the qualification and passport held and those…

Canadian and American universities are struggling amidst government policies meant to curb immigration and/or international student numbers. Meanwhile, Asian and European institutions are gaining market share of international student enrolments.These are the highlights of the newly released Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey by NAFSA, Oxford Test of English, and Studyportals, which surveyed 461 universities across 63 countries about their international enrolments in the latest intake (August–October 2025).An important methodological note is that more than half the sample was composed of universities in Canada (20), the UK (39), and the US (201). Just over 130 European universities participated. Asia was the least…

As the “big four” anglophone countries clamp down on international student recruitment amid concerns about their local impact, many of the Asian source countries of those students are making plays to become significant host countries in their own rights. India wants 500,000 students by 2047 and has recently approved more than 15 foreign campuses. South Korea recently surpassed its target of 305,000 by 2027. Other Western institutions are expanding into countries including Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia. Hong Kong has recently increased the number of international students universities are permitted to enrol, in response to turbulence in the US. And…

A dramatic decline in international student numbers in Canada shows how internationalisation globally is “evolving”, with the concept of the “big four” recruitment destinations seen as increasingly outdated. The country is on track to issue about 80,000 new study permits this year, way below the 437,000 cap its federal government set for 2025. This has not stopped the cap being reduced further, with the budget announced earlier this month confirming that it will be set at 155,000 next year – although the country could struggle to reach even this revised figure on the latest projections. Although the other members of the “big four”…

The International Students Representative Council of Australia (ISRC of Australia) has been formally established as an independent, democratic, and transparent national peak body representing and advocating for international students across the country. International students contribute enormously to Australia’s education system, economy, and broader society. However, according to the newly-launched organisation, in recent years, they have “lacked a consistent and coordinated national representative voice to influence the policies that directly affect them”. The ISRC of Australia noted that, at a national level, the absence of such a peak body has left international students largely excluded from key policy consultations and decision-making…

Janet Ilieva, founder of the consultancy Education Insight, said it was “fair to say” that the market is seeing an accelerated diversification of study destinations, as well as a “natural power shift East and South, with regional student hubs gaining much greater prominence”. China, India and Indonesia dominate as sending markets, she told delegates at the British Council’s Going Global conference last week, accounting for 42% of global tertiary enrolments. But she pointed out that students are increasingly looking for study opportunities beyond the traditional destination markets – the UK, the US, Australia and Canada – known as the big…