When talking about international exchange, a few questions seem to always come up: what are the most popular destinations? Are there countries or nationalities that tend to promote this learning experience?
In this post we’ll show you the most popular destinations to do an exchange, as well as common students’ nationalities and some main reasons why. And with that, at dothegap we encourage you to take the next step to experience an exchange by making it easy for you to make this important decision.
Countries that receive the most international exchanges
To start off, we’ll focus on countries that receive the most international students every year. The data to back these results is based solely on higher education undertaken by students who wish to further their university studies outside their own country.
The data from UNESCO and OCDE tend to place the United States and the United Kingdom as the main destinations for international students. Nonetheless, you have to also take into consideration the growing trend in China, which receives a significant volume of regional exchanges (same continent). This data is according to their own government.
In fact, this is one of the biggest phenomena happening right now: many students choose to leave their country, but choose a nearby destination, both geographically and culturally. In this way, experts differentiate global students from glocal students. Catchy, right? Glocal students adapt easier, need less economic support, and enjoy an equally enriching experience.
With all of this in mind, the top 10 destinations for international exchange are the following:
1 – United States
2 – China
3 – United Kingdom
4 – Germany
5 – Canada
6 – France
7 – Australia
8 – Russia
9 – Japan
10 – Spain
The United States holds the top position for receiving the most international exchanges, exceeding 1.18 million foreign students in 2017. And why? It’s mostly due to the huge growth of their universities and their cultural integration worldwide.
The most popular states are California, New York and Texas. In terms of studies, students tend to focus on the fields of engineering, business, math and IT.
The origin of international students
In terms of origin countries, (students who undertake international exchanges), China and India are the most common. The data collected shows that countries who send the most international students to do exchanges are:
1 – China
2 – India
3 – South Korea
4 – Germany
5 – Saudi Arabia
6 – France
7 – United States
8 – Malaysia
9 – Vietnam
10 – Iran
China, in 2012, sent almost 700,000 students to train in universities outside their borders, especially to the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and Japan. Both their government, and that of the others on this top 10 list, promote these experiences. They realise the importance of having access to the most powerful learning tool in their reach. They understand that this is the way toward growing and improving the near future in their respective countries.
And what about Spain?
International exchanges in Spain, or the experience of going abroad to study, is a trend that hasn’t stopped growing. This is especially due to the popularity of Erasmus scholarships. No doubt, there is also a great deal of awareness surrounding the benefits of learning new languages or selecting the best university possible that may not be in your area, much less your country.
Italy, France, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico are the origin countries of international students that come to Spain. And Spaniards choose the following countries for their exchanges:
1 – United Kingdom
2 – United States
3 – France
4 – Poland
5 – Denmark
6 – Switzerlad
7 – Portugal
8 – Italy
9 – Argentina
10 – Belgium
As you can see, the European Union has a significant presence on this list, but it’s opening minds and crossing borders! That’s why, it’s unsurprising that over 5,000 students leave the United States to develop a more competitive curriculum.
Although not on this list, there are also significant numbers of international students that leave Spain to study in universities in Australia, Canada or Brazil. Why are Spaniards taking on this adventure? The power of the Anglo-Saxon world, the chance to learn English and the attraction to their universities (not that we don’t highly value universities of Spain).
At the end of this post, you’ll find a series of links with valuable information that dives deeper into everything we’ve shared in this post, from the detailed UNESCO research to interesting rankings developed by QS Top Universities. Taking the next step to doing an international exchange, is a very important moment. That’s why we want you to be armed with the best information and choose your destination wisely, a place that will best meet your needs, interests and your desired international future.
At dothegap, we hope that all this information is of interest to you and that you also decide to live an authentic educational and vital experience.
To continue reading and exploring:
Data by UNESCO about the flow of students
Infographic by Forbes with the countries that send the most students abroad
News from the Chinese government about receiving international students
Explanation regarding the phenomenon of global vs glocal students
QS Rankings about the quality of the education system in countries and universities
