International students are turning away from the United States and the United Kingdom and towards universities in Asia and continental Europe, according to a global survey of universities published on 12 November, which found visa restrictions and government policy to be the biggest obstacles to recruitment.
The Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey, run by the course search platform Studyportals, NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Oxford Test of English, gathered responses from 437 universities in 63 countries about the international students who started this autumn. Its findings describe a widening gap between the four traditional English-speaking destinations, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and the rest of the world.
The UK recorded the sharpest deterioration. Some 79% of British universities reported fewer international students on postgraduate taught courses this autumn, up from 50% a year earlier, ICEF Monitor reported. In the United States, 59% of institutions reported a fall at master’s level, up from 48%, and more than a third expect numbers to fall again next year. Reuters reported that responding universities saw international undergraduate numbers drop by 19% in the UK and 13% in the US compared with last year.
Elsewhere, the picture was markedly brighter. Across continental Europe and Asia, half of the universities surveyed reported growth in international undergraduates, Times Higher Education reported, and 59% of Asian institutions recorded more international postgraduates, up from 35% a year earlier. Looking ahead to autumn 2027, 63% of Asian universities and 52% of European ones expect further growth.
Canada, after two years of steep falls caused by its cap on study permits, is showing signs of stabilising. Half of Canadian universities still reported fewer international undergraduates, but 43% reported an increase, compared with just 6% a year ago, and 71% expect growth next year.
Universities in the four main destinations blamed policy above all. Nine in ten institutions in the United States and Canada cited restrictive government policies as a significant barrier. Respondents pointed to visa refusals, processing delays, tougher screening and changes to post-study work rights, which led some students to defer their plans or drop them altogether. One British respondent told the survey that “visa restrictions had the most negative influence on enrolments.”
Those findings reflect a run of policy changes. In the United States, the government has expanded social media checks on visa applicants, revoked thousands of student visas and proposed a $70,000 fee on universities for each graduate who wants to stay and work. In the UK, most international students can no longer bring dependants, and the Graduate visa will be cut to 18 months for most applicants from January. Australia is consulting on tougher financial checks for student visas.
“National policies matter to international students making major decisions about where to study,” said Fanta Aw, chief executive of NAFSA, according to Reuters. Edwin van Rest, the chief executive of Studyportals, said that countries should see “welcoming international students” as “an investment in their own future competitiveness.”
The survey also suggests the picture in Asia is not only about policy. There, the biggest concern among universities was affordable housing, cited by 43% of respondents, ahead of government restrictions.
The figures come from a survey of universities rather than official national statistics, which are usually published many months later, and they describe the share of institutions reporting growth or decline rather than total student numbers. But they are consistent with the same survey’s findings in May, when half of responding universities reported lower international enrolments for the January intake and the sharpest falls were again in the four main destinations.
For students planning where to apply for 2027, the message is that the map of international education is changing quickly. The traditional destinations remain home to many of the world’s leading universities, but rules there are tightening, while universities in Asia and continental Europe are expanding their intake and, in many cases, their English-taught courses. Comparing visa rules, post-study work options and total costs across a wider range of countries has rarely mattered more.
Sources: Studyportals, NAFSA and Oxford Test of English, Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey (August–October 2026 intake), as reported by Reuters, Times Higher Education and ICEF Monitor, 12 November 2026; Studyportals press release, May 2026. Checked on 12 November 2026.