It is a universal truism that by widening your opportunities across continents, one will be able to become a better student and person in the world.
Many countries of the world have opened the door of learning to students from other countries to foster unity and development goals through knowledge impartation.
Here are the five countries with the highest number of international students.
United States of America
The United States of America is the top country hosting the most foreign students in the world. It is one of the most sought-after higher education destinations for international students.
The country had an inbound mobility ratio of 4.59 percent and hosted around 833,204 international students in 2021.
Four US universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University rank among the top 10 universities as per the QS World University ranking.
Total enrolment in tertiary education in 2021 was 18,159,427.
According to a recent report by the Washington-based Institute of International Education (IIE) released on Monday, the number of Nigerian students at US colleges and universities grew by 22.2 percent to 17,640 in the 2022/23 academic year from 14,438 in the previous year.
IIE highlighted that Nigeria was the only African country among the top 10 countries with the highest number of students in America, while China (289,526), India (268,928), South Korea (43,847), Canada (27,876) and Vietnam (21,900) are the top five countries.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks as the second-best country hosting the most foreign students in the world.
In 2021/22, 679,970 overseas students were studying at UK universities, 120,140 of whom were from the EU and 559,825 from elsewhere.
It had an inbound student mobility ratio of 20.06 percent in 2021 and hosted 600,589 international students during the same year.
In the 2021/2022 academic year, 2.86 million students studied in UK’s higher education institutions, with 680,000 (23.8 percent) being international students.
Nigerians accounted for 44,000 (6.5percent) of overseas students in the UK, trailing China’s 151,000 (22.3percent) and India’s 126,000 (18.6percent).
Australia
Australia is the 3rd country hosting the most foreign students in the world. It had an inbound mobility ratio of 21,89 percent and hosted approximately 378,439 international students in 2021.
The University of Melbourne. the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), and the University of Sydney are among some of the best universities in Australia and are ranked in the top 20 as per the QS World University ranking.
According to Matthew Mechan, deputy high commissioner of Australia, Australian High Commission, “Not less than 10,000 Nigerian students have been given admissions in Australian universities between 2015 and 2019.”
The education system in Australia for Nigerian Students is laudable as the country is home to a modern yet finest education system. The country is one of the highly developed countries, fares well as a highly-preferred international educational destination.
The country also ranks high in other factors such as – quality of life, democracy, health, freedom, civil liberties, safety and political rights. The country also has exceptional cities that ranks top in the livability factor. Considering all these factors, Nigerian students can confidently choose Australia as their higher education destination.
Read also: UK varsities consider NECO results for international students
Germany
Germany is a Western European country that ranks 4th on our list of 15 countries hosting the most foreign students in the world. Germany had an inbound mobility ratio of 11,23percent and hosted around 376,359 international students in 2021.
The Technical University of Munich is one of the best universities in Germany and ranks among the top 50 universities as per the QS World University ranking.
Currently, there are at least 4,000 Nigerians schooling and working in Germany, according to Annett Gunther, the German ambassador to Nigeria.
As of 2021, there are about 83,000 Nigerians living in Germany; Nigerians have very high rates of employment in Germany among immigrants, second only to Pakistanis.
Russia
Russia ranks as the 5th country hosting the most foreign students in the world. It had an Inbound mobility ratio of 8.11 percent in 2021 and hosted approximately 321,845 international students during the same year.
The Lomonosov Moscow State University is one of the best universities in Russia and ranks in the top 100 as per the QS World University ranking.
Education rate in Russia is high, in 2018, more than six out of ten 25-34 year-olds (63percent) in the Russian Federation had attained tertiary education, the second highest proportion after Korea and much higher than the average among OECD (44percent) and G20 (38percent) countries.
Nigeria has over 500 students in the Russian Federation under the bilateral education scholarship, while more than 1500 students are private students spread across Russian universities.
