The international education sector has faced near-constant change over the past year. Yet despite these shifts, the demand for studying abroad remains high as millions of students choose to pursue an international education every year.

To better understand what future international students are looking for, we launched the first ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓStudent Pulse Survey in 2022. Since then, we’ve heard from over 3,500 students! For the Spring 2025 edition of the Student Pulse Survey, nearly 850 students shared their thoughts on international education.¹ Their answers helped to reveal which factors are most likely to shape their study journey, what motivates them, how affordability may be shifting their plans, and a few dreams for their future.

Let’s take a closer look at which study destinations are gaining ground, how policy updates are affecting students’ plans, as well as a few study level trends.

Affordability is Central to Many Future Students’ Plans

International students have many factors to keep in mind as they consider their study journey, including course and visa applications, housing, and travel. As the cost of living continues to rise around the world, we wanted to specifically gauge how this change was affecting their plans and influencing their decisions. Throughout our Spring 2025 Student Pulse Survey, students’ attention to affordability was clear:

Despite rising costs, most students don’t want to wait: only 9% plan to defer their studies due to financial concerns. Instead, 16% are considering different programs than they’d initially planned to pursue, while 11% are looking at shorter programs.

This cost-conscious shift means that institutions which offer accelerated programs or three-year bachelor’s degrees may see more students applying to their programs in the coming months. Additionally, institutions that create and highlight alternate paths for international students may capture an audience who are still interested in studying abroad and building their career, but who are more economical than previous cohorts.

Cost concerns also impact which destination countries students are willing to consider. Students remain curious about more affordable—if less popular—locations, a shift in student behaviour which institutions in top study destinations must wrangle with in 2025 and beyond. In fact, just over one quarter of surveyed students were looking into different destinations than they’d initially planned on for affordability reasons.

This increased frugality also spilled into responses to other questions. For example, when we asked where students were considering beyond the Big Four,² Germany, and Ireland, one student noted simply: “Spain, Lithuania, and other European countries with lower tuition.” And, when asked which factors were most important to students when choosing a study program, affordable tuition fees was the most popular choice, selected by 77% of respondents.³ The next most popular choice, a high graduate employment rate, was at 57%. Rounding out the top five choices were a program that leads into the student’s chosen career (49%), high-quality teaching (47%), and the program’s reputation (45%).

Changing destination interest levels noted in this survey were echoed in recent search trends. Search engine data from 2024 showed that the number of “study in” queries for Australia, Canada, the US, and the UK have dropped from the highs seen in 2022 and 2023.

African Countries Rising as Study Destinations

This rising focus on affordability was also reflected in the wide array of study destinations prospective students told us they were considering. In our Spring 2025 Student Pulse Survey, 35% of respondents were considering study destinations beyond Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Among these alternative destinations, 7 of the top 10 write-in answers were European countries. Nigeria, New Zealand, and Japan rounded out the top 10:

As the third-most popular answer, Nigeria led a group of African countries which future students are considering as study destinations. And, while Nigerian students were the largest cohort of participants in this survey, Nigeria’s increased investment in post-secondary education through initiatives like the Tertiary Education Trust Fund⁴ may also lead students from neighbouring countries to consider studying abroad—but a little closer to home.

In general, compared to our past Student Pulse Surveys, respondents were more openly considering both studying abroad and domestically. When compared to previous surveys, more respondents were also thinking about studying in China, Pakistan, or Ghana.

Interest in Postgraduate Studies Increases Among Future International Students

While study destination interests have shifted, interest in different levels of study were fairly constant compared to our Fall 2024 survey. However, some differences emerge when compared to our Spring 2024 Pulse Survey results:

Graduate studies have seen the most positive shifts over the past year. Interest in doctoral degrees like PhDs rose by four percentage points year-over-year, and as in our Fall 2024 survey, over half of the students surveyed in Spring 2025 were considering master’s degrees.⁵

However, interest in undergraduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas was down versus our Spring 2024 survey findings. It’s a small change, but it may reflect how post-study work opportunities, support for students’ dependents, and other quality-of-life or career factors are increasingly oriented toward degree-based study—particularly advanced degrees—in top study destinations.

Canada Leads Among Popular Study Destinations

When we asked where future students would like to study, a higher proportion were focused on established destinations than in the past two Student Pulse Surveys. In fact, 65% of respondents were only interested in studying in one or more of the following destinations: Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the UK, and the US. This is up one percentage point from our Fall 2024 survey results, and is eight percentage points higher than it was in Spring 2024.

We also looked at how students saw each of these popular destinations in comparison to one another:

As in our Fall 2024 survey, more students were “extremely interested” in studying in the US than in any of the other featured destinations in Spring 2025. However, because more students were “very interested” and “moderately interested” in studying in Canada, Canada remained the top choice by weighted average. Across the pond, strong interest (“extremely” and “very” interested) for studying in the UK and Germany remained relatively unchanged, but strong interest in studying in Ireland was up by three percentage points.

In 2024, the international student population in the US was the largest it’s ever been. Take a closer look at which student populations contributed to this boom, and how F-1 student visa issuances evolved over 2024.

Interest in Top Anglophone Destinations Resilient through Policy, Government Changes

In arguably good news for the sector, surveyed students’ desire to study abroad remained strong despite ongoing policy changes and recent elections over the past year in top Anglophone study destinations. In fact, student sentiment was at least twice as positive as it was negative around how recent policy or government changes affected their desire to study in these destinations:

Policy and government changes had the most effect—positive or negative—on students’ desire to study in Canada or the United States. Only 29% of students noted “no change” to their desire to study in either destination due to these shifts. Conversely, nearly 50% of respondents noted no change in their desire to study in Australia due to recent policy and government changes.

As Canadians and Australians will head to the polls in 2025, our team will return to this question in our Fall 2025 survey to gauge how those elections may shift student sentiment.

Innovation and Care Are Central to Future Students’ Careers

Finally, we asked students about the last step in their student journey: their post-graduation career. What do their dream careers look like? The answer is multifaceted:

In our Spring 2025 Student Pulse Survey, “engineer” appeared more than any other word. Most students knew their engineering specialization, as well: only 18% had a general response of “engineer.” Software engineering was the most popular choice, followed by civil engineering.

The second-most popular response was “nurse,” highlighting (along with “health care”) a strong interest in health sciences, in alignment with current labour market trends. After “nurse”, there was a tie between “lecturer,” “researcher,” and “human resources,” illustrating students’ desire to continuously learn and share their knowledge, whether as an instructor, academic, or private sector employee.

Students’ interest in tech careers also remained very strong: IT, cybersecurity, and data analysis were among the top 20 careers, with data science, computer science, and artificial intelligence following close behind.

International students aren’t afraid to take a chance on themselves, so it’s not surprising to see careers like “entrepreneur” and “business owner” also appear in the top 10 results. “Consultant” rose up the ranks in this edition of the survey, as well. Many students view : a way to get experience with different businesses and in different fields, before leveraging their experience into a more specific career.

How Institutions Can Leverage These Survey Results

International student preferences are constantly evolving, based on global trends in affordability, accessibility, and career opportunities. Regularly assessing and adapting to current student preferences is an important part of building your institution’s international student population.

Based on our survey results, here are some suggestions which can help your institution thrive:

• Don’t underestimate the power of customization when attracting diverse student audiences. Where possible, offering multiple program schedules (like regular and accelerated) may boost your institution’s appeal to students with different timelines and budgets.
• Only 3% of international students we surveyed didn’t intend to work while studying abroad. So, including clear work-while-studying guidelines as part of the welcome or orientation materials for international students can set new students up for success. This is also a good opportunity to emphasize the importance of following the conditions of their student visa.
• In an era of fluctuating currency valuations, variable visa approval rates, and shifting geopolitical relations, diversification of student source markets is imperative to a thriving international student population on campus. This is doubly true as emerging destination markets continue to broaden their appeal to future students.

A hearty thank you to the hundreds of students who participated. Your observations give us valuable insights into what your study journey looks like—including what your plans are and how they’re changing—allowing tech companies like ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓand individual academic institutions to determine how we can help unlock your potential and set you up for future success.

We hope that these insights are helpful to you and your team. Our next Pulse Survey report will look at the sector from the perspectives of our network of international recruitment professionals. Stay tuned for that report in April.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓSpring 2025 Student Pulse Survey ran between February 25, 2025, and March 12, 2025. We received 840 responses from individuals in 84 student markets.

2. “Big Four” refers to the most popular destinations for post-secondary study in English: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

3. Students could choose up to five different factors in their answer to this question.

4. Olosula Blessing, MSME Africa, “.” March 15, 2025.

5. In this question, students could express interest in more than one level of study, which is why the total percentages do not add up to 100.

The post International Student Survey Findings Show Engineering Programs in Demand, Affordability Top Concern appeared first on ApplyBoard.

The UK’s international education sector experienced significant shifts in 2024, following a series of policy changes that reshaped student mobility. The Sunak government’s restrictions on student dependants had an immediate influence on student flows, particularly on applicants from key source markets where bringing family is a major priority. and uncertainty surrounding the Graduate Route—which has since been resolved—also created barriers that dampened student demand.

Of course, the UK was not alone in experiencing softened student interest. International education sectors in Canada, the US, and Australia all faced declines in 2024. Encouragingly for the UK, early signs point to positive momentum in 2025, with than in the same time last year.

That’s why today, we’re taking a close look at the latest UK Home Office data release, covering all of 2024. We’ll break down the latest study visa trends, highlight which student populations were most affected, and examine which markets remained resilient. Read on to see what these trends mean for UK institutions heading into 2025.

Main Applicant Demand Declined by 12% in 2024

While the UK has long been a top destination for international students worldwide, demand for UK study visas peaked in 2022, when nearly half a million applications from main applicants were processed. Global disruption in international student flows following the COVID-19 pandemic was a factor that contributed to this high-water mark. Main applicant submissions then dipped slightly in 2023—coinciding with post pandemic stabilization and a host of , including the announced dependants restrictions—before dropping significantly in 2024:

The UK processed over 423,000 sponsored study visas for main applicant international students in 2024. This represents a 12% decline from the previous year and a 15% drop from the 2022 high-point. While this drop was more mild than student visa decreases seen in other destinations in 2024, it still accounts for over 50,000 fewer processed applications in a single year.

Withdrawn applications also tell a story of softened student demand, likely related to policy changes. Nearly 6,600 main applicants withdrew their study visa application in 2024, a 127% increase compared to the previous year. Notably, this was following a huge spike in withdrawals in Q4 2023, when 2,000 students withdrew their application in that quarter alone—a 366% increase from Q4 2022. In short, after a wave of unwelcoming messaging from the Sunak administration in mid-to-late 2023, fewer international students applied for UK study visas, and withdrawals hit record highs.

Nearly 63,000 UK study visa main applications were processed in Q4 2024. This represents a growth of 9% over Q4 2023, possibly signalling renewed student confidence.

Largest Demand Drops Come From International Student Populations With High Dependant-to-Main-Applicant Ratios

Shortly after the restrictions on dependants were announced in 2023, we flagged that the policy risked softening demand from student populations with a high dependant-to-main-applicant ratio, including Nigeria and India. The table below shows the student populations that had the highest dependant to main applicant ratio in 2023, and how the number of main applicants changed in 2024:⁴

Seven of the 10 student populations with the highest dependant-to-main-applicant ratios saw significant declines in main applicants in 2024 compared to 2023. Interestingly, main applicant volumes from Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh remained resilient despite these student populations traditionally being more likely to bring their families with them. In fact, study visa applications from Nepalese applicants grew a striking 61% in 2024.

Nepal has one of the highest outbound student mobility ratios in the world. Read more about how Nepalese students will help alter the international student landscape in the coming decade.

Does this mean concerns about the new policy were overstated since not all high-ratio student populations saw declines? Not quite. The seven countries that experienced declining interest—Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and India—accounted for seven of the eight largest main applicant declines last year, with Russia (-21%) slightly surpassing Saudi Arabia.

While the impact of the dependants policy wasn’t uniform, it played a major role in shaping student mobility trends in 2024. For UK institutions looking to rebuild confidence in the key markets affected by this new policy, clear communication around post-study work opportunities, financial support, and campus resources will be essential. Proactively addressing concerns can help restore trust and re-engage prospective applicants moving forward.

Where Did Student Demand for a UK Study Visa Remain Resilient in 2024?

As noted above, seven of the eight largest study visa application declines came from student populations that traditionally had high dependant ratios. But beyond these declines, which student populations showed increased demand in 2024? The table below highlights the top 10 student populations that saw growth in 2024:⁵

Nepal and Pakistan stand out not just for defying the broader trend of declines among high-ratio dependant student populations, but also for the scale of their growth. Nepal ranked first overall, with the highest year-over-year increase in main applicants (+61%), while Pakistan (+11%) secured the fourth spot. Their resilience suggests that factors beyond dependant policies—such as economic conditions, domestic education capacity, and long-term aspirations for post-study work—continue to shape student decision-making.

Beyond these two countries, growth in 2024 was spread across a range of regions. Kenya and Myanmar (Burma) saw some of the largest increases, pointing to emerging demand from parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. Elsewhere, European countries like Germany, Switzerland, and Italy posted moderate gains. And, the presence of Mexico and Kazakhstan in the top 10 further underscores the increasingly global nature of student mobility to the UK.

Just outside this top 10, main applications from Kuwait and Turkey also notably grew in 2024.⁶ These two markets may be worth closer attention as UK institutions adapt to shifting student mobility trends.

Top 10 Student Populations Issued a UK Study Visa in 2024

The policy-driven softening of demand led to significant shifts in the UK’s international student body in 2024. At the top, Chinese students reclaimed their position as the largest recipients of UK study visas this year:

With 103,000 study visas issued, Chinese students reclaimed the top spot as the largest new student population by main applicants in 2024. This cohort overtook Indian students for the first time since 2021, making the impact of the dependant restrictions clear. China, with a historically low dependant-to-main-applicant ratio (less than 1 in 100), saw just a 6% decline in issuances—demonstrating steady demand despite a challenging global landscape. Indian students, by contrast, faced a 26% drop, underscoring the outsized impact of the policy on high dependants-ratio markets.⁷

Other previously growing student populations also demonstrate the impact of this shift. In 2022, study visa issuances for Nigerian main applicants were rising quickly and seemed on track to surpass 100,000, alongside India and China. That trajectory has since reversed. In 2024, issuances for Nigerian main applicants fell to 18,900, representing a 68% drop from the 2022 peak. This lost demand from Nigerian students outweighs the promising growth UK institutions have seen in Pakistani and Nepalese students over this period, driving overall volumes down.

Although Bangladeshi applications remained strong in 2024, visa issuances did not reflect the same growth. The 6,500 visas issued to main Bangladeshi applicants represent a 30% decline from 2023, driven by a striking 18% refusal rate. This was the highest refusal rate among the top 10 student populations, with only Pakistan (12%) also exceeding 10%.

In total, the UK issued 397,000 study visas to main applicants in 2024, a 14% decline over the previous year.

Looking Ahead

The UK’s international education sector faced considerable challenges in 2024, with policy changes reshaping student mobility patterns. The sharp declines in student demand from key markets highlight the impact of these shifts, particularly for countries where bringing family is a major factor in study decisions. However, the resilience of many student populations— especially Nepalese and Pakistani students—demonstrates that demand for UK education remains strong in key regions across the globe.

ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓis actively contributing actionable data, insight, and recommendations as the new UK Labour Government refreshes its International Education Strategy. At this stage—and despite calls from some in the sector—we don’t anticipate imminent steps to reverse the dependent policy, nor do we think it’s likely that the Government will opt to take international students out of the net migration figures. That said, we’ve already seen a much more and we expect this to be sustained and reflected in the launch of the new strategy.

Beyond the government’s broader strategy plans, for UK institutions looking to rebuild confidence in affected markets, targeted recruitment efforts will be critical. Clear communication around post-study work opportunities, financial support, and student resources can help re-engage prospective applicants. Meanwhile, growing demand from markets like Kenya, Myanmar, Kuwait, and Mexico presents an opportunity for institutions to diversify their recruitment strategies.

Understanding these shifts and responding with agility will be key to sustaining enrolment growth in 2025 and beyond. With ApplyBoard’s advanced data insights and recruitment solutions, institutions can identify emerging opportunities and connect with high-intent students in a rapidly evolving landscape. Reach out to learn how we can support your international recruitment efforts and help you navigate the road ahead.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of the , unless otherwise stated.

2. The dependant to main applicant ratio refers to the number of dependants divided by the number of main applicants for a given student population in the given year. A higher ratio indicates that a significant portion of students from that country tend to bring family members when studying in the UK.

3. Consider all student populations with a minimum of 1,000 applications in 2024.

4. Minimum of 1,000 sponsored study visa applications.

5. Minimum of 1,000 applications from main applicants.

6. The 5,700 main applicants from Kuwait was a year-over-year growth of 4%, while the 5,200 applicants from Turkey represent a 3% growth rate.

7. Note, however, that Indian student inflows dropped across all “big four” English study destinations—Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US—in 2024. Our 2025 Trends Report explored how India is investing heavily into its higher education sector in order to attract more students to study domestically.

The post After a Dip in 2024, are UK International Student Visas Poised to Return to their Previous Peak? appeared first on ApplyBoard.

2024 was a year of change across the Canadian international education sector. Study permit¹ approvals were on track to drop by 45% compared to 2023, based on our projections. A major factor in this change was a series of policy updates, including caps on some study permits, and shifting sentiment towards Canada as a destination.

As a result of these policy and sector shifts, the number of new Canadian study permits issued² in 2024 declined for the first time since 2020—and the latter was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.³ A central contributing factor to 2024’s drop was that fewer study permits were issued to college-bound students, although this cohort still received the largest proportion of study permits.

These major student shifts affected Canada’s top provincial and city study destinations, as well as the distribution of students across different levels of study significantly. Read on to learn more about the latest study permit issuance data across Canada’s largest metropolitan areas and what that might mean for 2025.

Study Permit Issuances Slowed Across Canada in 2024

By volume, Ontario remained the top provincial destination for new international students, followed by British Columbia (BC) and Quebec. However, over a year of rebalancing, 2024 saw the number of study permits issued to every province, and the territory of Yukon, decrease compared to 2023:

Use the series field above the line chart to select which province or territory you’d like to see.

Every province saw at least 8% fewer study permits issued in 2024 than in the previous year. This change was steered, in part, by policy. In late 2023 and early 2024, the Government of Canada placed a cap on some study permits.⁴ Prior to their final adjustments, these caps were , encouraging closer alignment between student enrolment rates and regional demographics.⁵ This resulted in some provinces like Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Saskatchewan receiving room to grow under their cap’s targets. However, this growth didn’t occur.

Out of these four provinces, Quebec welcomed the most students in 2024 with over 50,000 permits issued to new students at Quebec institutions. This represented a drop of 8% from 2023, the smallest year-over-year change among all 10 provinces.

By comparison, 17% fewer permits were issued to students going to Alberta, dropping from 30,500 in 2023 to just under 25,400 in 2024. Even so, issuances for Alberta-bound students remained higher than they were in 2022, signaling potential room for growth. Fellow prairie province Saskatchewan saw issuances drop by 35% year-over-year to just over 6,000 permits.

Meanwhile, on Canada’s east coast, study permit issuances to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2024 also dropped, with totals 22% lower than in 2023.

Study Permit Issuances Shift Among Provinces Most Limited by the Caps

As the caps were announced, four of the other six provinces’ study permit approval allocations were capped at 10% less than their 2023 levels.⁶ However, Ontario and BC, the provinces historically welcoming the highest number of international students, were subject to a greater rate of change.

With a study permit approval cap for 2024 set at 41% below its 2023 issuance total, institutions in Ontario weathered a challenging year. Ultimately, study permit issuances to Ontario-bound students dropped to 137,000 in 2024—roughly half of the 2023 total. It’s a shift with far-reaching consequences, as institutions announced restructuring efforts and put study programs on pause. This level of change wasn’t unique to Ontario: 48% fewer study permits were issued to students headed to Nova Scotia in 2024 versus 2023, returning the province to 2019 levels.

Meanwhile, BC-bound students were issued 65,000 study permits in 2024, a year-over-year reduction of nearly 33%. While BC remained the second-largest destination within Canada for new international students, total issuance levels were similar to 2021.

In 2024, Canadian study permit approval rates dropped from a national average of around 60% to about 50%.

Proportion of Study Permits Issued to College Students Shrink in 2024, K-12 Permits Rise

Many of these provincial impacts were influenced by student volumes shifts by study level. When we look at how issuances of new Canadian study permits by study level have shifted over the last eight years, some notable patterns emerge. First, while the proportion of permits issued to college-level students grew consistently since 2017, this trend reversed sharply in 2024. Second, while the proportion of new permits issued to primary or secondary school (K-12) students hovered between 13% and 19% in recent years, it climbed to over 20% in 2024:

To look closer at a specific study level, click on it in the chart’s legend to filter the results.

In the late 2010s, college students were issued between 33% and 39% of all new study permits. Through the early 2020s, inbound international college students received a progressively larger portion, which peaked in 2023 with nearly 48% of all new study permits issued (247,000). In 2024, however, college students received just over 125,400 permits, 39% of the new study permits issued. As Ontario hosts the majority of international college students—68% of new college-level study permits issued between 2017 and 2024 were for students at Ontario institutions—this downturn disproportionately affected Ontario.

Fewer study permits overall were issued to university-level students in 2024 as well. Generally, however, their share of the permits stayed fairly steady. The proportion of permits issued to undergraduate students held at 13% for a third year running. Meanwhile, postgraduate studies accounted for 13% of all new study permits issued, rising from 11% in 2023. A higher proportion of postgraduate study permits is good news for cities like Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto, home to institutions which attract many new master’s and PhD students.

In 2024, the proportion of Canadian study permits issued to K-12 students was the highest it’s been in the last eight years. Last year, just over one in five study new permits issued went to a student headed to a Canadian primary or secondary school. While the overall number of issuances dropped—from 80,000 in 2023 to 67,800 in 2024—the proportion of issuances grew by five percentage points year-over-year. While Ontario and BC attract the most K-12 students, the number of study permits issued to students in Quebec institutions actually grew between 2023 and 2024, suggesting steady interest in French-language education.

Montreal Returns as Top Undergrad Student City in Canada in 2024

Quebec also saw steady interest as a destination for new international undergraduates. Last year, Montreal edged ahead of Toronto, issuing more new study permits at the university undergraduate degree level for the first time since 2020:

In 2024, the ten census metropolitan areas (CMAs)⁷ whose universities attracted the most new bachelor’s students spanned six different provinces, as it has since 2021. Ontario and BC topped the list with three destinations each.

Year-over-year, the number of permits issued to bachelor’s degree students headed to Montreal dropped by less than 100, while the difference was greater for students headed to other major Canadian cities. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of permits issued to Toronto-bound bachelor’s degree students dropped by over 2,300. Meanwhile, nearly 1,800 fewer permits were issued to students headed to Vancouver and around 1,500 less to new students in Winnipeg.

Vancouver Remains Number One for New Postgraduate Degree International Students in 2024

Although Montreal was the top spot for new international undergrads, postgrad students were more likely to aim for BC. Last year, the most new study permits for master’s and doctoral degree students were issued to students going to Vancouver:

Nearly 7,400 new postgraduate international students started programs in Vancouver in 2024. However, that total is down by 41% compared to 2023. Similar—though not always as steep—shifts occurred across the most popular⁸ CMAs for permit issuances at this level of study. Out of the top 20 CMAs, fewer new study permits were issued to students heading to 18 destinations. Two Ontario cities were the only exceptions: 40 more postgrad students were issued permits to London universities, and just under 600 more postgrad students were issued permits to study in Toronto universities in 2024 versus 2023.

Is this change in study permit volumes a demand challenge? While the answer is nuanced, in 2024, we reported on how lower student interest at the postgraduate level was reflected in fewer study permit applications received by IRCC over the first half of 2024 versus 2023.

Toronto Stays the Top City for New International College Students in 2024

At the college level, Toronto kept a comfortable lead as the destination of choice for new international students:

Along with Toronto, five of the most popular destinations for college-level international students were in Ontario last year (Kitchener, Brampton, Mississauga, and London). Alberta and BC tied for the next most popular provinces, with both Calgary and Edmonton represented in the top 10 CMAs for Alberta, and Vancouver and Surrey for BC.

Even with student populations shifting the most dramatically at the college level, Ontario remained a powerhouse for college education: 58% of college-level study permits were issued to students headed to Ontario colleges last year. That said, changes to overall volume were notable. In 2023, 60,400 new study permits were issued to students headed to college in Toronto. In 2024, that number dropped to 21,100, representing a drop of 65%.

Colleges across Canada were affected by the new student cap, although how much permit issuances changed varied fairly widely. For example, future college students in Vancouver were issued 13% fewer study permits in 2024 compared to 2023. Permits issued to Calgary-bound college students, meanwhile, dropped by 21%.

Key Takeaways

International students planning to study in Canada in 2025—and the institutions that host and support them—must navigate a changed landscape. Canada’s study permit caps will continue this year, with a lowered target of 437,000 study permits issued. However, about 12% of the 2025 caps’ capacity is now reserved for postgraduate degree studies. While this is relatively in line with these students’ recent proportion of study permit issuances, the caps now also .

These changes are compounded by further limitations affecting college students’ options, like new field of study and language proficiency criteria for post-graduation work permit eligibility. That said, the government did expand the PGWP-eligible program list in response to constituent concerns, adding in-demand programs in child care and education. They also recently amended PGWP limitations such that college degree graduates are no longer subject to field of study requirements. Despite these revisions, collective policy changes will likely create a more competitive environment for students applying to popular institutions, especially in provinces like Ontario and British Columbia.

For institutions, driving continued student success may necessitate continued advocacy for key programs, and working with other institutions and associations. On the student front, institutions should ensure their teams understand updated PGWP guidelines so they can effectively highlight programs which fit new criteria.

In a time of heightened uncertainty, working collaboratively across sectors to shape program design, share career pathways, offer mentorship, and build the next generation of skilled workers is vital. This united approach can help people across the sector illustrate the many reasons why Canada remains an accessible, welcoming, and top-tier study destination.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The terms student visa and study permit are generally used interchangeably for Canadian international students. Rather than student visas, Canada provides accepted international students with study permits, which allow those students to enrol in classes at Canadian institutions. When a student is accepted for a study permit, they are also usually provided with a visitor visa, which allows that student to enter Canada for their studies.

2. The term “issued,” when talking about study permits, refers to when an eligible student is given their study permit after arriving at a Canadian port of entry. Here and throughout this piece, we’re also referring to new study permits issued, not including study permit extensions.

3. All data is sourced from unless noted otherwise.

4. The study permit caps limited how many study permit applications would be accepted for review under the new guidelines, and how many would be approved. Both of these steps happen before study permit issuance (which occurs onshore in Canada), and are calculated differently than issuance.

5. It’s worth noting that this methodology does not inherently consider factors like institutional capacity or local labour market needs.

6. Under the revised study permit cap guidelines, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, all of which would have had study permit approvals reduced between 16% to 28%, were capped at a 10% decrease.

7. Statistics Canada, “.” Accessed Mar. 2025.

8. The IRCC data in this chart spans from 2017 through 2024. “Most popular” here refers to the 20 CMAs which attracted the highest number of new study permit holders at the postgraduate degree levels within that timeframe.

The post These Canadian Provinces and Cities Welcomed the Most New International Students in 2024 appeared first on ApplyBoard.

The global landscape for international education is shifting, and student perceptions are evolving alongside it. As prospective students explore their study abroad options, they’re encountering a growing wave of online discussions—some informative, others cautionary. Concerns about affordability, visa policies, and job prospects are surfacing more frequently in media and online coverage, influencing where and whether students choose to study abroad.

At the same time, online search trends reflect changing interest in major study destinations. Keyword search volume about studying in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia are down from post-pandemic high-water marks, hinting at broader shifts in demand.

By examining global sentiment and search data, we can gain a clearer picture of how student interest developed in 2024, and how it may shape student mobility trends in 2025. Below, we break down the latest trends to see which destination markets are experiencing the most significant changes—and what they could mean for international education.

All references to sentiment data throughout this article refer to the proportional amount of media coverage. For example, “20% negative coverage” would mean that 20% of all relevant media coverage was negative. Any discussion related to volume of coverage will be noted as such.

Global Sentiment About Studying in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia

Media coverage of international education grew in 2024, with the volume of stories increasing by 8% for the UK and more than 20% for Canada, the US, and Australia compared to 2023:

While sentiment remained relatively stable for the UK, the US saw a notable shift, with positive coverage rising to 34%—a six-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Australia also experienced a rise in positive stories, reaching 34%, up three percentage points from 2023. For Canada, both positive and negative stories edged up by one percentage point, reaching 21% and 19%, respectively.

On social media, however, sentiment about the big four English-speaking destinations was much more negative compared to traditional news:

On global social media, one in four posts about each of the major English-speaking destinations carried a negative sentiment. The US saw the highest share of negative sentiment at 36%, though it also recorded the second-highest positive sentiment among the big four at 19%, just behind the UK’s 20%. Canada and Australia had closely aligned sentiment rates, with their positive, negative, and neutral shares all falling within a narrow two-percentage-point range of each other.

It’s not surprising that sentiment on social media skewed more negative than in traditional media, where coverage tends to be more structured. However, these trends highlight the need for institutions to take a proactive approach to their online presence. Engaging authentically on social platforms can help shape the conversation, counter misinformation, and reinforce a strong, positive brand that resonates with prospective students.

Learn more about how leveraging technology solutions will be essential for institutions seeking to match students with programs that best meet their goals and timelines.

Global Keyword Search Trends in 2024

Does polarizing content about studying abroad lead to lower student interest? While it’s important not to mistake correlation with causation, search engine data shows that interest in each of the big four study destinations have dropped from their post-pandemic high-water marks:⁴

The chart above shows the average monthly keyword search for “study in [destination country]” over a 12-month period, year ending January.⁵ The 13,600 monthly keyword searches for “study in Canada” in the year ending Jan 2025 represent a 34% decline year-over-year, and a drop of 52% from its post-pandemic high-water mark.

Searches for the UK were down 32% from their all-time high in 2023. Searches from individuals in India and Nigeria accounted for 75% of this drop, two student populations we flagged as being most likely to be impacted by the previous Sunak government’s implementation of restrictions on student dependants.

Both the US and Australia saw slight year-over-year upticks, though both remained down from their highest points by 27% and 9%, respectively.

Declining search interest about the big four destinations suggests that policy shifts and broader narratives are influencing where students consider studying. For institutions, this underscores the importance of not only attracting student interest, but also converting it into enrolments. By offering clear, compelling messaging on affordability, career outcomes, and support systems that directly address student concerns, institutions can mitigate weakened demand and engage students on positive, impactful topics.

Leveraging ApplyBoard’s data on student field of study interests can help institutions align their programs with emerging career trends and better attract prospective students.

Sentiment Data About Studying in Canada from Major Student Populations

To better guide online strategies for institutions in each major English-speaking destination, let’s take a closer look at shifting student sentiment among key student populations. With online news sentiment shifting, we specifically explored whether certain international student populations are encountering more polarized coverage than others.

The chart below breaks down how sentiment toward Canada has evolved across key student source countries, offering insight into how prospective students may see this destination:

Canada received significant positive sentiment in English-language online news in China (47%), the Philippines (33%), and Malaysia (31%). Positive news sentiment actually increased year-over-year in six of these nine major student populations, a surprising trend given the numerous policy changes Canada enacted over the year. By contrast, the three countries that saw positive sentiment decline were the UAE (by ten percentage points), Nigeria (seven percentage points), and Pakistan (three percentage points).

News sources from Ghana were arguably the most polarized in 2024. 31% of Ghanaian coverage about international students in Canada had negative sentiment. Meanwhile, 24% of coverage was positive. This resulted in Ghana having the lowest neutrality rate among these nine major student populations.

These trends suggest that while Canada’s policy changes have not universally dampened sentiment, they have created uneven perceptions across student markets. Institutions should be mindful of these shifts, reinforcing Canada’s strengths—such as its robust Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program, quality of education, and diverse student experience—in markets where positivity is growing while addressing concerns in regions where sentiment is cooling.

Sentiment Data About Studying in the US from Major Student Populations

While sentiment toward Canada has shifted in key source markets, the US has seen its own share of evolving perceptions. Here’s how online news sentiment toward studying in the US unfolded across major student-sending countries in 2024:

Positive sentiment about the US grew year-over-year by at least five percentage points in seven of these nine major student populations. Only Pakistan (down three percentage points) and UAE (down one percentage point) did not follow this trend.

In fact, eight of these countries saw positive news coverage surpass 30% in 2024. Ghana saw the most positive coverage at 45%, closely followed by both the Philippines and China at 39%, with India not far behind at 37%. It’s also exciting to see that five of these major student-sending countries—China, Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the Philippines—had negative sentiment below 10% in 2024.

These trends suggest a strengthening perception of the US as a study destination in several key markets. With rising positive sentiment and minimal negative coverage in many student-sending countries, institutions can leverage this momentum by showcasing student success stories, emphasizing post-graduation opportunities, and fostering stronger engagement with prospective applicants.

The US issued 130% more F-1 visas to Nepalese students in 2024 than in 2023. Learn more about US F-1 visa issuance data for 2024.

Sentiment Data About Studying in the UK from Major Student Populations

While UK policies largely stabilized in 2024, news sentiment continued to shift. The chart below shows how online news sentiment toward studying in the UK evolved across key source countries:

China and the UAE had the highest share of positive sentiment toward the UK, at 44% and 45%, respectively. In fact, positive sentiment about studying in the UK in Chinese news jumped nearly 16 percentage points year-over-year. India, Malaysia, and the Philippines also saw over a third of coverage framing the UK favourably.

Positive sentiment in Nigeria dropped to 8% in 2024, half of what it was a year earlier. As noted above, Nigerian students were arguably the most impacted by the previous Sunak government’s decision to restrict dependants, so this decline in positive sentiment is not entirely unsurprising.

Interestingly, Pakistan and Vietnam experienced a more mixed sentiment landscape, with positive and negative coverage both sitting in the 20–25% range.

These shifts in sentiment highlight how policy decisions can leave a lasting imprint on student perceptions, even after their immediate implementation. In regions with growing interest, reinforcing institutional strengths, such as research excellence, industry partnerships, and alumni networks, can help sustain momentum. And in markets where sentiment has softened, proactively addressing concerns—whether about visa policies, affordability, or job prospects—through transparent communication and support initiatives can help rebuild confidence in the UK as a study destination.

Sentiment Data About Studying in Australia from Major Student Populations

As a destination that has debated and implemented significant policy reforms, Australia’s international education sector has seen shifting narratives in global media. Here’s how sentiment about studying in Australia trended in major source markets in 2024:

China and India recorded the highest share of positive sentiment toward Australia, at 43% and 40%, respectively. Positive coverage in Malaysia and the Philippines also remained strong, with both countries seeing roughly a third of their coverage frame Australia in a favourable light.

The UAE had the highest share of negative sentiment at 34%, making it the only market in this group where negative coverage surpassed 20%. Meanwhile, Nigeria had the lowest positive sentiment at just 14%, though most coverage remained neutral (76%), indicating limited polarization in media discussions about Australia in this market. By comparison, Pakistan and Vietnam saw a more balanced sentiment mix, with both countries recording positive sentiment near 25–30% and negative sentiment between 16–22%.

With sentiment varying across markets, institutions must address key factors influencing how students perceive Australia as a study destination. In regions where sentiment has cooled, clarifying changes to visa processing times, post-study work rights, and student visa conditions—particularly under Ministerial Direction 111—can help rebuild confidence. Meanwhile, in markets with steady or growing interest, highlighting Australia’s strong job market in sectors like healthcare and engineering, as well as pathways to regional study incentives, can reinforce its attractiveness.

Looking Ahead

As sentiment around international education continues to evolve, institutions must remain attuned to how students in different markets perceive their study options. While some destinations are experiencing rising positive sentiment, others face growing skepticism—reinforcing the need for institutions to communicate their value in ways that resonate with diverse student audiences, particularly in the social media sphere.

To remain competitive, institutions should focus on the factors that matter most to prospective students: clear career pathways, financial accessibility, and a strong support network for international learners. Proactive engagement—whether through digital outreach, transparent messaging on post-graduation opportunities, or strategic partnerships—can help ensure that institutions are reaching and converting students effectively.

ApplyBoard’s sector-leading technology and global reach make it easier than ever for institutions to connect with prospective students, refine their recruitment strategies, and strengthen their brand presence online. With millions of students engaging with ApplyBoard’s content and platform, institutions can leverage these insights to navigate shifting sentiment and drive student interest in an increasingly competitive landscape.

For direct commentary on how sector changes in our destination markets may affect both students and institutions, we invite you to follow .

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All sentiment data courtesy of , and limited to online, English-only media. We’ve removed media coverage from Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia from the global analysis. News stories filtered by having to include “[country]” and at least one of “international student,” “international students,” “student visa,” or “studying in [country].”

2. Social media data limited to X (formerly Twitter).

3. All keyword search data courtesy of . This data measures the average number of monthly searches over a 12-month period ending June of the given year. For example, “2024” would mean the period of July 2023 to June 2024. Search results limited to English results on Google only.

4. For the US, we’re specifically using the “study in USA” keyphrase, as it had the most volume out of “study in US,” “study in the US,” “study in the USA,” “study in the United States,” and “study in the United States.” For the UK, “study in UK” had more volume than “study in the UK.”

5. Year ending January means the 12-month period covers February of the previous year to January of the giver year. For example, this means 2025 is for February 2024 to January 2025.

The post Major English Destinations Faced Increasingly Polarized Media, Search Trends in 2024 appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Last year, proposed and enacted government policy changes caused significant shifts in the international education sector in Australia. These trends were largely driven by uncertainty around the government’s intended �soft cap’ on international student volumes, .

This legislation—the ESOS Amendment Bill—was ultimately scrapped due to a lack of support in Australia’s parliament, but its proposed tertiary student commencement limitations¹ were later (MD111) in December. Despite how recently these limits were formally enacted, the debates throughout 2024 created confusion for students and contributed to weakened demand for studying in Australia.

To evaluate the impact of these policy debates and changes on student demand, we’re diving into Australian student visa trends over the first six months of 2024/25.² We’ll be taking a closer look at which student populations experienced the biggest shifts, how the proposal of the ESOS bill impacted different levels of study, and what we expect to see for Australia’s international education sector by the end of 2024/25.

Student Visas Granted in 2024/25 On Track to Return to 2018/19 Levels

In each of the two fiscal years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia granted more than 200,000 student visas to new international students. And, in the first full post-pandemic year (2022/23), Australia reached a new high-water mark of over 325,000 new student visas granted. This was partly due to the “double cohort effect”, where students who had delayed studying abroad moved forward with their plans once widespread travel resumed.

As student volumes normalized in 2023/24, Australia’s new international student population still showed modest gains over pre-pandemic levels. But as we look to the 2024/25 fiscal year, our projections show that the number of new student visas granted may fall by 10% year-over-year:

Through the first six months of 2024/25, around 110,000 new student visas were granted to international students planning to study in Australia. This was a decrease of 10% from the same months in 2023/24. We expect this trend to continue across the full year, and granted visa volumes are historically split fairly evenly across both halves of a given year in Australia. This means that a full-year 10% decline would result in approximately 220,000 new student visas granted in 2024/25, returning Australia’s new international student populations to 2018/19 volumes.

While the previously proposed NPL was mapped against the 2025 calendar year—as opposed to the 2024/25 fiscal year—it is notable that the NPL included a new visa issuance cap of 270,000 in 2025 for higher ed and VET. If new visa issuances in 2025 match 2024, new international student volumes across all study levels would fall below this cap by nearly 20%. And this scenario can’t be shelved just yet: the overall cap, as well as indicative caps for each Australian institution, have been.

Predicting Student Demand for Studying in Australia in 2024/25

The decline in student visas granted isn’t due to policy changes alone. Student demand is also impacted by policy discussions and implementation. Ever since the ESOS Bill was proposed and began creating uncertainty around Australia’s international student policies, the number of new student visas lodged has dropped substantially:

About 111,000 student visa applications were lodged in the first six months of 2024/25, representing a 37% decline over the same period of the previous year. If this softened demand persists across the full fiscal year, Australia may see fewer new visa applications lodged than in any non-pandemic year since 2016/17.

However, we don �t expect this decline to persist long-term. It’s far more likely that 2024/25 will be a �reset’ year that returns Australia to their modest pre-pandemic growth trend. Even if 2024/25 concludes with lower new student volumes than 2018/19 for Australian institutions, overall demand for studying abroad remains strong and Australia is an attractive destination for many students.

Higher Ed Visa Grants Hold Steady Amid Allocation Shifts

Australia’s 2024/25 student visa trends show that the NPL-turned-MD111 continues to shape outcomes across study levels, given that NPL visa allocations now underpin MD111’s student visa processing policies. These , shielding many universities from significant cap impacts, while non-tertiary providers were excluded from the NPL entirely.

By projecting granted student visa volumes across 2024/25, based on data from the first six months of the fiscal year, we can see how visa trends align with these policy aims:

Australia’s higher ed, non-award, and schools sectors are all projected to experience marginal growth in new international student populations in 2024/25, compared to the previous year. Similarly, postgraduate visa grants are trending towards relative stability compared to the past two years. This reinforces that Australia’s international sector is well-poised for modest future growth, and the potential that 2024/25 will be a new baseline for future years.

If all these study levels are relatively stable, or even growing, what’s driving the overall drop in new student visas? VET and ELICOS programs. These two study levels have experienced significant year-over-year declines since the 2022/23 high-water mark:

While VET programs accounted for over 13% of all visas granted in the first half of 2022/23, they represented just 4% of granted visas over the same period in 2024/25. This is largely due to two main factors. First, significant limitations were placed on VET providers under the new indicative allocations, meaning that many VET programs have limited seats available for international students. Second, visa grant rates for VET studies have remained around 50% over the past three years, at least 30 percentage points below the all applicant average.⁴

For Australia’s ELICOS sector, lower approval rates have also been a factor. Grant rates for ELICOS visas were around 75% in the first half of last year, down from 90% in full-year 2022/23. More importantly, growth in this sector was previously driven by high demand from students across Latin America, especially Colombia and Brazil. As this demand has softened substantially over the past two years, the study level has faced challenging persistent declines.

With VET and ELICOS demand softening, providers should focus on differentiation and adaptability. Strengthening pathways to higher education, expanding industry partnerships, and enhancing student support can boost appeal. Diversifying recruitment and highlighting strong program outcomes—like job prospects or university articulation—will also be key. Staying agile amid policy shifts and advocating for sector needs can help navigate this challenging period.

International Students from Across Asia Driving Sector Stability

For institutions across Australia, understanding student mobility flows from different student populations is foundational for future recruitment efforts. Over the past decade, the two largest student populations in Australia have been students from China and from India. Historically, Chinese students have been the largest cohort within Australia’s international student population. But pre- and post-pandemic, Indian students were poised to become the top new student population, based on student visas granted per year.

Now, as incoming student flows shift based on government policies and geopolitical factors, Australia’s new Chinese and Indian student populations are on different trajectories:

Based on lodged student visa data from the last year and a half, it’s almost certain that Chinese students will remain the top new student population in Australia in the coming years. In fact, for 2024/25, we predict that the number of student visa applications from Chinese students will remain near-stable year-over-year. This stability helps support Australia’s higher ed sector in particular, given that over 90% of Chinese student visa applications were for higher ed programs.

By contrast, demand from Indian students fell by nearly 20% from 2022/23 to 2023/24. And, based on Jul–Dec 2024/25 data, we anticipate this demand to further weaken by up to 30% again this year. This decline will account for a significant portion of the overall drop in visas granted for higher ed studies. As with Chinese students, Indian students are largely drawn to Australia’s higher ed sector, with 93% of Indian student visa applications directed toward higher ed in the last six months of 2024.

It is worth noting, however, that Australia is not alone in experiencing declining Indian student volumes. Canada, the US, and the UK have all seen new Indian student numbers drop over the past year, and India’s government has introduced several initiatives to encourage students to pursue higher education locally. This highlights the growing importance of having a diverse student recruitment strategy, especially as prospective students consider more destinations than ever before.

Growth Opportunities for Australian International Education

While India and China will remain key sources of new international students in the coming years, Australian institutions should also look to adjust their efforts based on other emerging—and declining—new student populations.

Growth in visas granted to students from Asia, North America, and Europe helped give the sector stability in 2024/25 and, moving forward, represent key areas of potential recruitment diversification strategies:

Through the first six months of 2024/25, East Asian student populations accounted for three of the top five fastest-growing new student cohorts, based on new student visas granted. New student populations from Taiwan, South Korea, and China all grew by at least 20% in early 2024/25, compared to the same period last year. Across the rest of Asia, student demand from Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka also saw significant growth.

Interestingly, many of these growing student populations represent established or growing international student destinations. Canada and the USA are fellow members of the â€�Big Four’,⁵ while China and have dedicated significant resources in recent years to strengthen their international education sectors. Likewise, Germany has seen rising demand among international students, with German institutions . Collectively, this may create challenges developing these student flows in the long-term, although students from China and South Korea remain high-potential opportunities over the next five years.

When it comes to student populations with weakening demand, there is a clear connection to the challenges facing Australia’s VET and ELICOS sectors. Many of Australia’s fastest-declining student populations were drawn primarily to either VET or ELICOS programs in previous years. While students from Vietnam, Bhutan, and Pakistan are largely driven towards higher ed studies, Vietnamese and Pakistani students have experienced falling visa grant rates.⁶ The grant rate for Vietnamese students fell to just 76% in 2023/24, their lowest approval rate in decades. In the face of these challenges, VET and ELICOS providers will need to diversify their recruitment efforts and promote strong program outcomes to prospective students.

Looking Ahead to 2025

With the implementation of Ministerial Directive 111, clarity is beginning to settle across Australia’s international education sector. Institutions have been provided with their indicative allotments for 2025, and while adjustments continue to be made to these figures, the mechanics of Australia’s international student cap are largely set. While these limits present challenges in attracting top global talent, they also offer opportunities to enhance sector sustainability long-term.

Australia remains a popular destination for international students, strengthened by robust post-graduation work opportunities. As Australia hones its approach to international education, strong cross-collaboration on skills development, program design, and employment pathways can help draw top talent while equipping students for success in their careers. By remaining adaptable and focused on student success, institutions can maximize their potential in 2025 and beyond.

For personalized insights and strategies to maximize your institution’s potential, reach out to your Partner Relations Manager or contact ApplyBoard’s Partner Relations team at schoolpartnerships@applyboard.com. ApplyBoard’s expertise in recruitment partner training, document verification, and student guidance equips institutions with the tools they need to enhance application quality, attract global talent, and maintain diverse student populations.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. Known, under the original bill, as the National Planning Level or NPL.

2. All data courtesy of the . All data reported according to Australian governmental financial years, which span from July of one year to June of the next year (for example, July 2023 to June 2024 was the 2023/24 year), unless otherwise noted. The data used for this article includes subclass 500 and subclass 570 to 576 visas lodged or granted to primary applicants located outside Australia only. The first six months of 2024/25 span from July 2024 to December 2024.

3. Student visas for primary applicants located outside of Australia only.

4. For offshore, primary applications only. The VET visa grant rate was 51.5% in 2022/23, 46.6% in 2023/24, and 52.3% in Jul–Dec 2024/25. By contrast, the all applicant grant rates were 80.3%, 78.9%, and 88.0%, respectively.

5. A term used to denote the four largest English-speaking international student destination countries, namely Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

6. While visa approval rates for Bhutanese students remained on par with previous years in 2023/24 and early 2024/25, have attributed decreased demand towards Australia to policy change skepticism.

The post Student Demand for Studying in Australia Shifting Under New Policies appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Over the past few years, millions of different students have used the ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform to search for international study programs.¹ For many of these students, searching for programs in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States on our platform is one of the first steps in their study abroad journey. This proprietary search data gives us a leading indicator of changing student preferences, empowering us to help students achieve their education and career goals.

Today, we’re examining how international students’ program searches for Canada, the US, and the UK shifted in 2024. Last year was a tumultuous time for unprecedented policy changes, and shifting policies can have a major impact on student program preferences. ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓ how these student preferences adapted in 2024 and how institutions could adjust for 2025.

What Canadian Fields of Study did International Students Search for in 2024?

In 2024, shifting student interests reshaped program demand in Canada. While policy changes influenced overall student mobility, key international student populations showed strong engagement with programs that align with Canada’s long-term workforce needs. This contributed to notable growth in search volumes for health fields, as well as continued interest in engineering and technology and sciences fields.

Here’s how student searches evolved across different fields this year:

The proportion of searches for Canadian health programs jumped over four percentage points in 2024, compared to the previous year. More students entering health fields would be a tremendous boon to the country’s national wellbeing, as .

This rising interest in health programs was reflected across many of Canada’s largest international student populations in 2024. For Indian students, 17% searched for programs in this field, up from 13% the year before. The share of Ghanaian and Nigerian students exploring health programs also rose, reaching 21% and 20%, respectively—both increasing by five percentage points. Meanwhile, strong demand continued among Filipino students (22%), while interest among Brazilian (14%) and Sri Lankan (10%) students nearly doubled year-over-year.

How Student Interest Shifted Across Canadian Fields of Study

The growing interest in health fields, along with a two percentage point rise in searches for law and other social-focused programs, led to a smaller share of searches for business, engineering and technology, and sciences compared to 2023. However, as demand for STEM talent continues to drive workforce needs, many student populations have increased their interest in engineering and technology and the sciences—highlighting ongoing opportunities for institutions to attract top talent in these fields:

More than 20% of Bangladeshi, Brazilian, Chinese, Mexican, and Nepalese students searching for Canadian programs did so for the engineering and technology field. The field was even more popular among Colombian and Sri Lankan students, accounting for nearly one in four searches.

Canadian science programs also attracted growing interest from several key student populations in 2024. Brazilian and Filipino students doubled their share of searches compared to 2023, reaching 14% and 10%, respectively. Over 20% of Bangladeshi students explored this field, making them one of the cohorts most engaged with Canadian sciences. Interest also grew among Chinese, Colombian, Mexican, Nepalese, and Sri Lankan students, with searches for Canadian science programs rising by at least three percentage points in each group.

These trends signal an opportunity for Canadian institutions to attract more international students in high-demand fields. Highlighting career pathways, research opportunities, and work-integrated learning in health, engineering and technology, and the sciences can help institutions align with student interests and workforce needs.

What US Fields of Study did International Students Search for in 2024?

Unique search volume for the United States on the ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform doubled in 2024, compared to 2023. These gains were unsurprising, as the US saw the largest increase in positive global news sentiment about the four major Anglophone destinations during this period. Yet, even with this surge in interest, the distribution of searches across fields of study remained largely stable compared to previous years:

The biggest shift was in engineering and technology, where the share of searches fell by nearly three percentage points. Those searches generally went to health fields, which were up by over two percentage points, and social-related fields, up nearly one percentage point.

Sciences accounted for nearly 21% of all US-centric searches in 2024, higher than any of our other destinations. This reflects the US’s long-established reputation as a hub for STEM-related studies.

In 2023/24, over 70% of students from India, Iran, Bangladesh, and Nepal enrolled in the US pursued STEM opportunities.

Field of Study Search Trends Among US-Bound Students

Search interest from students in Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka doubled in 2024 compared to the previous year. On top of that, Pakistani searches for US programs tripled while Nepalese searches quadrupled. The graphic below breaks down what fields of study some of the US’ largest student populations were searching for in 2024:

Health fields saw the highest interest from students from Nigeria (20%), Ghana (20%), and India (13%). In fact, this field’s share of searches from Nigerian and Ghanaian students rose seven and five percentage points compared to the previous year. Additionally, the share of searches for health fields increased for eight of the nine student populations in 2024, compared to the previous year.

The sciences were a key focus across all nine student populations, accounting for at least 15% of searches in each group. Students from Nepal (22%), Pakistan (22%), and India (21%) led the way with the highest share of science searches. Other notable trends include shifts in Brazilian student interests, where the proportion of science searches doubled from 2023, and Iranian program preferences, where one in four searches were also for the sciences field.

Despite its slight overall decline in student interest, engineering and technology remained a top choice for many international students. Sri Lankan (29%), Pakistani (24%), and Bangladeshi (23%) students showed the highest levels of interest in this field, though at least 17% of the remaining six key populations also searched for engineering and technology programs.

As international student interest in STEM fields remains strong and demand for health programs grows, US institutions have an opportunity to reinforce their strengths in these areas. Strengthening industry partnerships, expanding hands-on learning experiences, and supporting post-graduation employment pathways can help attract and retain top international talent.

In the US, STEM occupations have a median annual wage more than double that of non-STEM roles, making this field a highly attractive pathway for international students.

What UK Fields of Study did International Students Search for in 2024?

After tightening rules on international student dependants in 2023, the UK saw a significant pullback from international students in 2024—applications declined by 14% year-over-year, while dependant applications dropped by 84%.³ The good news for the sector is that early signs point to positive momentum in 2025, with higher acceptance letter issuances and international student deposits for the January intake compared to 2024.

Our search trends reinforce these early signs: interest in UK courses jumped 25% in 2024 vs. 2023. With search behaviour often signaling future application trends, this surge suggests the UK’s positive momentum in early 2025 could continue throughout the year. Beyond this overall growth, shifting field-of-study preferences highlight how international applicants are adapting to the UK’s changing landscape:

As with searches for courses in Canada and the US, health fields saw the largest increase among UK searches, climbing nearly four percentage points to 12.8% of all searches. This growing interest aligns with the UK’s expanding healthcare sector, which is projected to add 349,000 jobs by 2035, growing 7% from 2025. Likewise, the information technology sector is expected to grow 8% over the next decade, which aligns with shifting student preferences—ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform data shows engineering and technology accounted for 17% of searches in 2024, up two percentage points year-over-year.

Interest in the sciences also expanded, rising from 13% in 2023 to 16% in 2024. Alongside the gains in health and engineering and technology, this shift underscores how international student priorities are increasingly aligning with long-term global workforce demands.

How International Students are Navigating UK Study Fields

This alignment comes at a time when interest in UK courses is rising. Interest in UK programs grew significantly among several key student populations in 2024, with searches from students in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana, and Saudi Arabia doubling year-over-year. Meanwhile, student searches from Nigeria and Pakistan saw substantial gains, rising 66% and 40%, respectively. However, searches from Nepalese students experienced the most dramatic increase, with searches tripling compared to 2023.

Further supporting the possibility that the UK’s positive momentum in January 2025 will continue throughout the year, searches from most key student demographics reached an all-time monthly high in either December 2024 or January 2025.

The graphic below illustrates how major student populations explored different fields of study in the UK on the ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform last year:

Student interest in health fields was strongest among Ghanaian (22%), Nigerian (20%), and Saudi Arabian students (16%). Compared to the previous year, the share of searches for this field rose by six percentage points among Ghanaian students and five percentage points among Nigerian students. Additionally, the proportion of health searches among Sri Lankan students doubled over this period.

By comparison, the sciences were a priority across all nine student populations, making up at least 14% of UK course searches. Students from Pakistan (18%), Saudi Arabia (18%), and Bangladesh (16%) had the highest proportion of science-related searches. Notably, seven of the nine key student populations devoted a greater share of their searches to the sciences in 2024 than in the previous year

Engineering and technology also accounted for at least 14% of searches among these major student populations although Sri Lankan (29%), Saudi Arabian (26%), and Chinese (23%) students showed the highest engagement in this field. Additionally, eight of the nine key student populations allocated a larger share of their searches to engineering and technology in 2024. As student interest in UK programs continues to grow, institutions can strengthen their appeal by aligning program offerings with evolving student priorities and workforce needs.

Leveraging ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓto Help Drive Your Institution’s Strategic Student Recruitment

Search trends provide valuable insight into what future international students are prioritizing in their study journey. By analyzing these patterns, institutions and stakeholders can better anticipate shifts in demand, allocate resources effectively, and align programs with emerging workforce needs. What fields are drawing the most interest? Which destinations are gaining traction? How are students adjusting their choices based on evolving policies and job market opportunities? Understanding these trends is essential for building a strong, future-focused international recruitment strategy.

ApplyBoard’s platform empowers institutions to reach and engage diverse student populations worldwide. With real-time data, deep market insights, and an expansive recruitment network, we help institutions adapt to shifting student preferences, diversify their applicant pools, and connect with high-intent students looking for the right program. As demand continues to evolve, leveraging ApplyBoard’s expertise can ensure your institution stays ahead of the curve—attracting the right students, in the right fields, at the right time.

Reach out to our Partner Relations Team to take your recruitment strategies to the next level of quality, efficiency, and control.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. In the past, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform search data was generated based on button clicks on a page, while the new search data is generated by any changes made to the page’s filters (destination, field of study, etc.) As a result, the new search count, if tallied using the previous search data approach, would be significantly inflated compared to the original search count. To make the search counts more comparable, we changed our methodology as of August 2024 to use unique entries per user within each hour.

2. When including engineering and technology, sciences, and health studies.

3. The PIE, . January 2025.

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The American international education sector had strong momentum going into 2024, after achieving impressive growth in the 2023 fiscal year.¹ And, with new data showing the number of F-1 student visas² issued by the United States over fiscal year 2024, it’s clear the US remains a top-tier destination. In fact, the US welcomed international students from over 200 countries in 2024. However, fewer F-1 visas were issued than in both prior years, indicating the rising influence of study abroad destinations beyond the ‘Big 4’ of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Today, we’ll dive into U.S. Department of State data³ to understand how specific student populations have shifted, look at the total number of American F-1 student visas issued in 2024, and detail trends that may affect the international education sector moving forward.

Number of US Student Visas Issued Dropped in 2024, Remained Above Late-2010s Levels

In 2024, new student visa issuances fell by nearly 45,000 year-over-year, dropping to around 401,000. However, new issuances remained higher than they were in fiscal years 2017, 2018, and 2019. This may signal a levelling-out of the growth caused by the ‘double cohort’ effect which helped to drive student numbers in 2022 and 2023:

This drop in visa issuance may seem counter to the fact that the total population of international students in the US reach its highest level ever in 2024. However, the chart above only shows how many new F-1 student visas were issued over the most recent fiscal year. This means it doesn’t capture the full picture of the American international education sector.  F-1 issuances don’t account for students already pursuing their studies, or those working at job placements through post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT). Additionally, up-to-date government data on F-1 visa application volumes and approval rates is not currently available. Issuance data only captures new student inflows, rather than necessarily reflecting overall demand. If F-1 visa application volumes remained stable or even increased in 2024, yet approval rates fell at a higher rate, issuances could still decline year-over-year.

Yet these lower issued volumes mean that as new graduates complete their studies or finish their placements, we may see the overall international student population in the US decline. Limited student inflows may not be enough to surpass graduate outflows, even if demand for international study in the US remains at an all-time high.

A new record for OPT placements was set over the 2023/24 academic year, accounting for almost 243,000 student visa holders.

Issued Visas Decline in Summer 2024

The 2024 fiscal year started off with student visa issuance volumes similar to 2023, but F-1 issuances fell year-over-year during the summer months:

June, July, and August are key issuance months for students planning to start classes in September. However, an average of over 17,800 fewer student visas were issued from June through August 2024 compared to the same time frame in 2023. This reduction was likely caused by a variety of factors, including potentially lower F-1 visa approval rates (as noted above). Student demand may also have been influenced by the through early 2024, as an unfavourable exchange rate could have swayed some students towards more affordable destinations, or caused them to defer their study abroad plans. The lead-up to the American presidential election also began in spring 2024, and the accompanying rhetoric may have also affected some students’ decisions.

2025 is likely to be a year of continued change. Take a closer look at four of our top predictions for how the international sector may evolve.

Indian Students Issued the Most US F-1 Visas in 2024

Six of the top ten student populations that received the most US student visas in 2024 came to the US from Asia. Students from India received the most visas, continuing a three-year trend, followed closely by students from mainland China:

Compared to the 2023 fiscal year, the majority of top international student populations received fewer student visas in 2024. While Indian students were issued 86,000 F-1 visas in 2024, this was only slightly more than the number of visas issued to Indian students in 2021 (80,000), and a significant drop from the heights of 2022 and 2023. If this decline continues, new Indian student populations may be surpassed by new Chinese students in 2025.

In fact, the number of visas issued to students from mainland China appears to have stabilized around the 80,000 mark, after dipping in 2022. While future F-1 application and approval volume data will better outline whether this was caused solely by falling approval rates or a larger decline in applications from Chinese students, this is still a sizeable drop from pre-pandemic levels. If demand has weakened, this could be driven by Chinese students’ evolving expectations amid a slowed domestic economy⁴ and a strong US dollar. Some Chinese students may be choosing other destinations or staying closer to home, but many Chinese academic institutions have also become global powerhouses over the past decade. For example, Tsinghua University ranked 12th worldwide in , followed by Peking University at 13th, along with five other Chinese universities in THE’s top 100 list. These institutions are likely attracting students who might previously have considered studying overseas, and this rising trend of strengthening domestic postsecondary education could influence student flows towards the US in the coming years.

Asian and African Populations Continue to Lead US Student Visa Growth

Students from Asia not only represent the largest new student populations in the US, they are also among the fastest-growing.⁵ Students from five Asian countries were issued at least 25% more F-1 visas in 2024 compared to 2023. Leading the pack are Nepalese students, who collectively received 130% more student visas than they did in 2023 and 114% more than in 2022. But they weren’t the only student population to achieve sustained growth over the past two years:

These fast-growing student populations are a mix of well-established source countries like France, Nepal, and Vietnam, along with a few emerging student populations like those from Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, and Zimbabwe. The recent growth of these student flows towards the US is good news for American institutions: as half of these countries have , they represent strong potential future growth. Urbanization, particularly in eastern Africa and central Asia, will likely also continue to play a key role in driving sustained student interest in, and access to, international study options including the US.

Learn more about which international student populations are driving growth in the US with our deep-dive into Open Doors 2024 data.

Diverse Student Populations See Visa Issuances Slow in 2024

Although F-1 visas issued doesn’t tell the full story of international student demand towards the US, many student populations experienced lower F-1 visa issuances in 2024. Beyond students from India and mainland China, major student populations from many global regions saw a drop in F-1 visas issued compared to 2023:

Iranian students received decade-high numbers of F-1 student visas in 2022 and 2023, before experiencing a 43% decline in 2024. These students’ journeys are complicated by legal factors including , and long-tail ripple effects of the Muslim travel ban enacted in 2018. While President Biden repealed that ban on his first day in office in 2021, that visa processing never returned to pre-ban speeds. Meanwhile, other destinations are becoming increasingly popular among students from Iran: in 2024, .

Likewise, students from India are also seeking out more affordable study destinations like Germany, Poland, and South Korea. In 2024, nearly 43,000 Indian international students alone. Still, despite visa complexities and the higher cost of living, the US remains a top choice for Indian student prioritizing academic prestige and extensive career networks.

Building Towards Continued Growth

As the new Presidential administration establishes itself, and as American institutions face shifting student demands towards more affordable destinations, 2025 could be a telling year for the US’ international education sector. Expected government releases of F-1 visa application and approval rate data for 2024 will clarify whether demand for studying abroad in the US has softened somewhat, or whether a drop-off in F-1 approval rates has limited student inflows even as demand remains high. If approval rates have dropped, heightened demand may not translate into increasing student populations in the coming years. And, if any future policy changes specifically impact approval rates—as we’ve seen with other destinations including Canada and Australia—it’s vital for institutions to clearly communicate about any policy changes affecting both current and future international students. This not only helps students to feel connected to their campus community, it helps them remain confident in their choice of the US as their study destination.

American postsecondary education has a long history of high-demand among international students, and that’s unlikely to change significantly in a short period of time. But it’s important to keep in mind that students also have access to an expanding range of study destinations, many of which are investing in new programs and infrastructure to support their education systems. And, these policy changes and investments are already showing signs of success: countries including , Ireland, and hosted more international students in 2024 than ever before.

As such, it’s vital for American institutions and policymakers to invest strategically in communicating what makes studying in the US special. Whether it’s flexible program options, cutting-edge research opportunities, or the diverse range of people and cultures students can learn from on American campuses, there are many key draws for international students. Amidst a growing crowd of study abroad options, thoughtful outreach and a collaborative approach can help American institutions maintain high global interest in studying in the US over the next decade.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. Here and throughout this piece, when a year is stated, it is in reference to a fiscal year unless noted otherwise. Fiscal years in the US run from October to September.

2. As F-1 student visas are the most common visa status used by international students in the US, we’re confining our analysis to that specific visa type. Here and throughout this article, “student visa” refers to F-1 student visas. For reference, the US government has three student visas: F Student visas are academic (for study at an accredited K-12 school, college, or university, or studying English at an English language institute; the study must lead to a degree, diploma, or certificate); J Exchange visas are for participants in an exchange program either at the high school or university level; and M Student visas are for non-academic study (not including language programs), or vocational study or training.

3. The student visa data used throughout this article is from the U.S. Department of State’s and data reports. While the U.S. Department of State advises against aggregating monthly totals as this may not provide an accurate issuance total for the fiscal year to date, our test calculations found an average overcount of just 0.1% across source countries for previous years.

4. Ulrica Lin, CNBC. “.” May 2024.

5. Countries with a minimum of 1,000 student visas issued in 2024.

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On January 24, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) finalized each province and territory will receive for 2025. These caps, along with the national study permit issuance target, provide institutions with a clearer framework for planning in the year ahead—though a few logistical questions remain.

Join us as we dive into Canada’s international student cap allotments for 2025. Find out how many student visa applications each province and territory can accept,¹ our approval forecasts for 2025, and key changes that could reshape Canada’s international education landscape.

Softened Demand from International Students Likely to Continue in 2025

In 2024, Canada’s international education sector was defined by softening international student demand, following the introduction of the country’s application cap. The number of new student approvals dropped 45% last year, outpacing IRCC’s intended 35% reduction by 10 percentage points. This weakening demand occurred across all study levels, including those exempt from the cap.⁴

Based on these current trends, as well as factors influencing global student flow towards Canada, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓprojects that lower demand among new international students will continue throughout 2025:

We anticipate IRCC will approve study permits for about 207,000 new international students in 2025. This would represent a 26% drop from 2024, returning to approval volumes last seen in 2018. However, this fall represents a slower rate of decline than last year’s, partly because 2023 was a high-water mark—meaning there was more room to drop in 2024—and partly due to expectations that softening demand will stabilize and establish a new baseline by summer 2025.

It’s important to note that this forecast only measures new student demand and does not account for study permit extensions, or potential shifts in study permit approval rates. As we detailed last week, approval rates fell to near 50% in 2024, and any changes to this rate could significantly impact our forecast. Additionally, the specific allocation of study permits under the cap feature significant amendments for 2025, including the integration of postgraduate students and a requirement for �onshore’ students to acquire a new study permit when changing institutions or study levels. These changes each have the potential to influence student mobility flows, impacting our projections as logistical details become clearer.

How Study Permit Allocations Will Work in 2025

While our forecast estimates the effect of shifting student demand, the caps necessarily limit the supply of study permits available to international students. Putting aside this decreased student demand, what is the direct impact of the caps on the number of study permits available to students hoping to study in Canada?

Canada’s national study permits issued target for 2025—which includes student cohorts that are exempt from the application cap—is 437,000. This would be a 10% decrease from the 2024 target, as . Note, however, that there’s contradicting terminology of “approvals” and “issued” between the 2024 and 2025 targets. While the 2025 target is labeled “study permits issued,” the 2024 target (and the math outlined for that target) was for “study permit approvals.” Study permit approvals and study permits issued are two distinct parts of the student visa funnel.

The table below shows how these targets will be divided out among different study levels, including exempt applicants:

These study permits issued targets inform the number of PAL/TAL applications provinces and territories are allocated. New to 2025, graduate-level students and most onshore students require a PAL/TAL. However, the following groups remain PAL/TAL-exempt:

• K-12 students
• Certain Government of Canada priority groups and vulnerable cohorts (such as francophone students eligible for the )
• Existing study permit holders applying for an extension at the same designated learning institution (DLI) and at the same level of study

Canada’s International Student Cap 2025 Provincial Breakdown

While the overall target for study permits issued decreased for 2025, the inclusion of new student cohorts requiring a PAL/TAL resulted in most provinces and territories receiving higher application allotments compared to 2024. The table below shows the number of applications each province has been allocated for 2025:

The Canadian government revealed back in September that . Specifically, IRCC outlined that at least 12% of each province’s issuance target must be reserved for the graduate level, although this allotment will necessarily decrease the volume of non-graduate visas. On the surface, this explains why the total number of allotments in 2025 is only marginally lower than the 2024 total despite the targeted issuances being 10% lower.

As shown above, the change in allotments across each province and territory is not an even 10% reduction. Newfoundland and Labrador received nearly triple the application allotments for 2025 compared to 2024, and the Northwest Territories were allotted more than double. Quebec, Alberta, and Saskatchewan were also granted significantly more allotments than the previous year, while Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia saw significant reductions. Ontario received the highest reduction overall, accounting for the biggest volume shift.

2025 Caps and Targets Move Closer to Population Share

Why these large differences across provinces? It’s important to remember that the 2024 cap was initially weighted, prior to final adjustments, by . To limit the impact of this change, regions with increased application allotments compared to 2023 were capped at 10% growth, while reductions in other regions were adjusted case-by-case, and then additional top-ups were rolled out to account for each province’s historical approval rates.

These adjustments were a positive step, aligning more closely with sector realities and enabling provinces and institutions to adapt more effectively to the new policies. But those adjustments also meant that gaps remained between the final numbers and the provincial population weights.

By comparison, both the 2025 application allotments and study permits issued targets align more closely with population weighting:

In 2025, the proportion of the total study permit issuance target allocated to nine of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories falls within half a percentage point of their share of the country’s population. And while Alberta’s 10.3% share of 2025 issuances remains nearly two percentage points below its population share, it’s almost two points higher than its 2024 approvals target.

Population share may help explain the significant decrease in Ontario’s application allotments and the increase in Quebec’s. That’s because provinces with low approval rates will need more applications to meet their issuance targets than those with strong approval rates. And as we outlined last week, Ontario was one of only three provinces with an approval rate over 50% in 2024, while Quebec’s approval rate fell to 32%, the lowest of all provinces or territories.⁵

If IRCC continues to base study permit allotments primarily on provincial population share, this approach does not inherently consider factors like institutional capacity or local labour market needs. It also does not factor in recent PGWP policy changes that prioritize labour market fit. As a result, provinces with strong postsecondary institutions or significant employment opportunities for international graduates may not receive allocations that reflect those strengths.

To create a more balanced system, greater foundational support is needed—both to better align allotments with these strengths and to help provinces receiving larger allocations expand their capacity. This includes more efforts to communicate with students about the incentives and opportunities available in those provinces.

Forecasting 2025 Canadian Student Visa Supply Potential

If each province and territory were to reach its PAL/TAL allotment, how many new students would be approved? Based on the latest IRCC data, we’ve forecasted two scenarios for each province’s/territory’s supply potential. This forecast range shows between 253,500 and 265,600 potential new approvals for 2025:⁶

There are two critical aspects of these supply potential forecasts to keep in mind. First, they do not account for historical application and approval volumes. Both forecasts assume each province and territory will reach their application allotment in 2025, and see approval rates similar to the January through October period of 2024.

Second, and most importantly, these forecasts do not account for the inclusion of onshore student applicants. As stated in the 2025 PAL/TAL media release, the . This change will likely have a profound impact on each province and territory: From January through October 2024, there were over 160,000 study permit extension applications for postsecondary studies. The only extension cohort that will continue to be exempt from submitting a PAL/TAL is students applying for an extension for .

But, in general, extension data does not clearly indicate the proportion of applications that this cohort represents. With an approval rate consistently above 90% since 2021, including 94% in 2024, study permit extension applications and approvals are likely to significantly impact an institution’s PAL/TAL allocations early in 2025, potentially creating a competitive first-come, first-served environment that may further diminish new student volumes.

Technology is Helping Institutions Improve Conversion Rates

Faced with changing application volumes, some institutions might consider stepping back from high-demand regions with lower visa approval rates. However, this strategy carries significant risks, including reduced campus diversity, disruptions to student enrollment flows, and limited flexibility to navigate global geopolitical shifts.

A more effective approach is to focus on partnerships that drive strong visa approvals and conversions while ensuring a diverse student body. By working with ApplyBoard, institutions can access cutting-edge tools and expertise that align students with programs tailored to their academic and career aspirations, optimizing both student success and institutional outcomes.

The results speak for themselves. ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents consistently achieve higher study permit approval rates compared to the national average across Canada’s key source markets:

In 2024, 82% of ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents were granted study permits—nearly 32 percentage points above the national average. For certain countries, such as Nigeria, the difference was even more pronounced, with ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents achieving approval rates up to 40 percentage points higher than the national average.

Read more about why working with ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓis an advantage for both students and institutions.

What 2025’s PAL/TAL Application Allotments Mean for Canada’s International Education Sector

With the 2025 PAL/TAL allotments now clear, institutions will need to navigate a more regulated and competitive landscape. The transition to tighter allotments, alongside changes to the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program and the inclusion of postgraduate studies within cap limits, may initially present challenges for attracting top global talent. However, these changes also offer opportunities to enhance long-term sustainability and efficiency within the sector.

Canada continues to be a premier destination for international students, bolstered by one of the world’s strongest post-graduation work programs. Recent updates to the PGWP program reaffirm Canada’s commitment to fostering opportunities for international students, including no additional field of study requirements for master’s and doctoral levels. Additionally, new eligible programs, particularly in education, signal a proactive approach to addressing Canada’s critical skills gaps while supporting student aspirations.

Greater alignment between institutions, provinces, and employers will be key to capitalizing on these strengths. As Canada refines its approach to international education, stronger collaboration on program design, skills development, and employment pathways can help institutions attract top global talent while ensuring students are equipped for success in the workforce. This synergy will not only enhance post-graduation opportunities but also support Canada’s broader international education sector amid softening student demand.

In short, for institutions to thrive in this evolving environment, strategic partnerships will be more important than ever. ApplyBoard’s expertise in recruitment partner training, document verification, and student guidance equips institutions with the tools they need to enhance application quality, increase visa approval rates, and maintain diverse student populations.

As we enter this new chapter, Canada’s international education sector has a chance to reinforce its strengths and embrace new opportunities for growth. By staying adaptable and focused on student success, institutions can continue to provide world-class education to students from around the globe.

For personalized insights and strategies to maximize your institution’s potential in 2025, reach out to your Partner Relations Manager or contact ApplyBoard’s Partner Relations team at .

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The terms student visa and study permit are generally used interchangeably for Canadian international students. Rather than student visas, Canada provides accepted international students with study permits, which allow those students to enrol in classes at Canadian institutions. When a student is accepted for a study permit, they are also usually provided with a visitor visa, which allows that student to enter Canada for their studies. In this article, we’ll use the terms interchangeably.

2. This forecast measures the demand from new international students only, and is based on 2024 approval rates and rate of application volume decline. These demand projections do not factor in provincial shares of PALs/TALs and uncertainties remain about the cap’s target shifting from approvals to issued permits, as well as its inclusion of onshore students. Projections are subject to change as more information becomes available.

3. All data is sourced from unless otherwise noted.

4. Canada’s 2024 national cap on study permit applications included several exemptions based on program study level. Cap-exempt study levels included primary and secondary school, master’s programs, and doctoral degrees..

5. This approval rate is for all study levels.

6. This supply forecast does not account for historical approval volumes or the impact of including onshore applicants into the cap. The forecast is based on each province’s/territory’s application allotment for 2025 and latest available approval rates.

The post Forecasting Canadian Study Permit Volumes in 2025 appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Canada’s international education sector has weathered the impact of the first year of student caps. As we approach the rollout of Canada’s revised 2025 caps, it’s a critical time to evaluate how demand for Canadian study abroad programs has shifted due to these policy changes.

This past fall, when we analysed study permit data¹ from the first six months of 2024, we projected that processed post-secondary applications would drop by up to 40% over the full year. That prediction was made before the Minister of Immigration announced a further decrease in student caps for the next two years, and prior to significant changes to Canada’s Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program.

Now, with more complete data for 2024,² a clearer picture of the effect of Canada’s international student caps has emerged: Study permit approvals are on track to fall by 45% in 2024, compared to 2023. Read on to find out which study levels and student populations have seen the largest declines, which emerging source markets have maintained growth despite the caps, and more.

Study Permit Volumes Well Below 2024 Caps

The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) set Canada’s 2024 international student caps based on a 35% reduction compared to 2023. After further adjustments were made for , final targets of 552,095 study permit applications and 291,914 study permit approvals for capped study levels were set.³

Yet, even from the early days of the caps, decreased student interest outpaced government estimates. As that decreased interest continued throughout the year, IRCC is now on pace to approve only 280,000 total study permits for full-year 2024:⁴

The total number of study permits processed is set to drop by 35% year-over-year, in line with IRCC’s targets. However, study permit approvals have not kept pace. The projected 280,000 approvals would represent a 45% drop from 2023, outpacing IRCC’s intended reduction by ten percentage points. This would also be the lowest number of study permit approvals in a non-pandemic year since 2019.

This significant drop was felt across all destination provinces, but Ontario and Nova Scotia have experienced the largest impact:

While Ontario institutions accounted for over half of all study permit approvals in 2023, approvals for these schools are projected to fall 55% year-over-year, the highest of any province. This drop results in institutions in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec accounting for a larger share of 2024 approvals, although each province is still forecasted to see approvals decline by at least 10,000 compared to 2023.

Four in every five respondents in our latest Recruitment Pulse Survey agreed that Canada’s decisions to limit study permit applications made it a less desirable destination.

Study Permit Approval Rates Fall to 50%

This rebalanced provincial distribution highlights the other main reason for the difference between IRCC targets and actual 2024 trends: approval rates. When Canada’s 2024 caps were introduced, Minister Miller initially detailed that a 60% study permit approval rate was used for all cap calculations. Later, when to encourage student distribution across all provinces, this rate was shifted down to 53%.

However, even taking this reduced 53% approval rate into account, study permit approval rates are highly unlikely to hit IRCC’s target by the end of the year:

Through the first ten months of 2024, the overall study permit approval rate hovered just above 50%. This represented a ten percentage point drop from the same period in 2023. But it’s likely this rate will fall even further once full-year 2024 data is available, based on 2021–2023 trends.⁵ As a result, we expect the average study permit approval rate will fall below 50% for full-year 2024, dropping around four percentage points below IRCC estimates.

This approval rate drop is, in part, driven by a steep decline in study permit approvals for institutions in Ontario, as noted above. Additionally, only three provinces experienced an average approval rate above 50% in Jan–Oct 2024: Alberta (60%), British Columbia (66%), and Ontario (54%). But the national average was ultimately brought down by Quebec’s declining approval rates. Average approval rates for applicants intending to study in Quebec dropped by over ten percentage points in Jan–Oct 2024, falling to just 32%, the lowest provincial approval rate over the last decade.

The average Canadian student visa approval rate for ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents reached 82% in 2024, nearly 32 percentage points higher than the sector average approval rate.

Cap Impact Felt Across All Study Levels

The downturn in study permit approvals was not limited to study levels directly impacted by the cap.⁶ In fact, based on our projections, study permit approvals across all study levels in 2024 will fall well below IRCC’s intended total approvals for capped study levels alone. Although cap-exempt study levels have experienced more limited approval declines, these broad impacts demonstrate the wide-reaching impact of policy changes on overall student sentimentality about a given destination country.

Number of Study Permit Approvals for Capped Programs Drop by 60%

The primary focus for Canada’s 2024 international student caps was limiting approvals for post-secondary programs.⁷ Under the national cap, up to 292,000 study permits could be approved for these study levels, amounting to a 28% decline compared to 2023.

However, the actual declines realized for these study levels will likely far surpass government estimates:

Across capped study levels, Canadian colleges have faced the starkest approval declines. In the first ten months of 2024, less than 91,000 study permits were approved for international college students, down from over 210,000 during the same months in 2023. Barring a significant increase in approvals during November and December, it’s likely that new international student populations at Canadian colleges dropped by 60% in 2024.

By comparison, visa approvals for capped university studies were marginally more stable year-over-year. New study permit approvals for international undergraduate students fell from over 57,000 in Jan–Oct 2023 to under 34,000 in Jan–Oct 2024. This 41% decrease more closely aligns with the cap’s intended reduction target, but it still represents the lowest number of approvals for undergraduate students since 2017.⁸

Earlier this year, we estimated that 231K post-secondary study permits would be approved in 2024. Based on updated IRCC data, that projection remains accurate: 192K post-secondary study permits were approved in Jan–Oct 2024, which we now estimate to rise to 221K by the end of December.

Cap-Exempt Programs Not Exempt from Shifting Student Sentiment

Four study levels were noted as exempt when Canada’s international student caps were first announced: primary and secondary school as well as master’s and doctoral programs. IRCC estimated that 140,000 study permits would be approved across these levels in 2024, based on totals from the 2023 application period.

However, approvals for these cap-exempt visas remained more than 25% lower in Jan–Oct 2024 versus the same period in 2023:

Approvals for secondary students remained the most stable year-over-year, with approvals falling by nearly 20% over the first ten months of 2024. However, declining approval volumes reached around 30% for both primary and master’s students, and doctoral student volumes continued their persistent year-over-year declines.

Given that many international primary and secondary students come to Canada with parents who are studying at the post-secondary levels, these drops reflect the knock-on effects of the 2024 caps. Despite these study levels being exempt from the cap, students have also been influenced by negative sentiment about Canada’s education sector, which in turn has further limited student flows.

This downturn in postgraduate student volumes means the impact of including these study levels in the 2025–2026 student caps may be somewhat mitigated. As we detailed last October, we project that approximately 263,000 study permit approvals will be divided among the provinces under the 2025 caps, and at least 12% of these approvals needs to be reserved for postgraduate students. As a result, we anticipate at least 32,000 approvals will be set aside for master’s and doctoral applicants, and this figure closely aligns with Jan–Oct 2024 postgraduate approvals.

Cap Influence on Key Student Populations

Interestingly, the 2024 caps have not had a uniform impact on Canada’s international student populations. Most student groups experienced year-over-year declines, but some established and emerging populations went against that trend.

Of the 61 student groups with more than 300 study permit approvals in Jan–Oct 2024, 40 saw year-over-year approval volumes fall by 20% or more. But eight student groups are on pace to grow in 2024, despite the caps:

Student populations from Senegal, Guinea, and Vietnam all grew through the first ten months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. This impressive growth signals that these student populations may be a key source of diversity across Canadian campuses during the cap era.

By contrast, declining student populations were more widespread. New approval drops exceeding 20% included eight of the top ten student populations from 2023. Additionally, five of these student groups saw their new approvals at least halved year-over-year. Students from India, Nigeria, and the Philippines, who collectively accounted for more than half (54%) of all study permit approvals through the first ten months of 2023, only represented 44% of all approvals through the same period in 2024.

Ghana remains poised to help drive international student diversity in Canada, despite cap impacts. While approvals for Ghanaian students decreased by 11% in Jan–Oct 2024 vs. Jan–Oct 2023, they remained nearly 175% higher than approval figures from the same period in 2022.

How Institutions Can Improve Conversion Rates and Maximize Diversity with ApplyBoard

While some institutions may view these shifting volumes as a reason to move away from high-demand, low-approval markets, we strongly recommend against this shift. Such a move could significantly reduce campus diversity, jeopardize student flows, and limit institutional ability to weather geopolitical shifts.

Institutions should instead focus on working exclusively with partners that drive higher conversion and visa approvals, without sacrificing diversity to manage cap allocations. By working with ApplyBoard, institutions can take advantage of our innovative platform that steers applicants toward programs that suit their academic journey.

Across Canada’s major student populations, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents have significantly higher study permit approval rates compared to other applicants:

In 2024, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents were approved for their study permit in 82% of cases, exceeding the national all-applicant average by nearly 32 percentage points. In some cases, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudent approval rates were nearly 40 percentage points higher than the average for students from those countries, such as Nigeria.

Why are ApplyBoard’s Visa Approval Rates Higher?

Over the past ten years, ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓhas taken concrete steps to enhance transparency, integrity, and technological innovation throughout the student application process:

• AI-Powered Program Matching: Our platform steers applicants toward programs tailored to their academic journey, providing tailored program recommendations with prediction scores based on the student profile and preferences.
• Application Pre-Screening: Our pre-screening process ensures applications are complete, legible, and free of potential red flags, helping to maximize conversion success. Half of all applications submitted to ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓare not passed on to institutions, ensuring admissions teams spend time reviewing only strong and complete applications, streamlining the admissions process.
• Recruitment Partner Vetting and Training: ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓvets and monitors recruitment partners for adherence to strict quality controls, including response times, conversion rates, and student satisfaction. We also provide training and up-to-date information on school programs, requirements, intake data, and scholarship opportunities on one platform.

The result of these efforts is that many ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents put forth stronger applications to IRCC. ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓstudents are better equipped to write a genuine statement of purpose for their study permit application, and they are more likely to submit complete, high-quality applications, enhancing their approval rates.

By partnering with ApplyBoard, your institution can help mitigate the pressures of increased conversion and ensure your student populations remain stable, vibrant, and diverse. We also offer the ability to send offers-in-principle and consolidate tuition deposit processes, reducing the resources needed to administrate your international student program while ensuring cap spaces are allocated to students who are very likely to enroll.

What We Expect for Canada’s International Education Sector in 2025

On January 22, 2025, Canada will transition from initial cap targets to a further 10% reduction. As we’ve detailed previously, these limitations along with changes to Canada’s Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program and the inclusion of postgraduate studies in Canada’s 2025 and 2026 caps could limit the ability of Canadian institutions to attract talented students from around the globe.

Yet Canada retains some key advantages that may help the sector level-off in 2025. Canada maintains one of the world’s strongest post-graduation work programs, with recent changes to the PGWP program emphasizing that there will be no additional field of study requirements for master’s and doctoral levels. Some new programs have been added to eligible PGWP fields as well, recognizing the growing need for educators across Canada. And, the inclusion of postgraduate programs into the 2025 caps may help institutions streamline application processing.⁹

Government policy changes in 2024 have reshaped Canada’s international education landscape, but 2025 could be a year of building stability. ApplyBoard’s proven track record as a sector leader in agent training and document verification can help institutions remain efficient and agile, increasing conversion likelihood from diverse student populations.

For data-backed guidance on how you can maximize conversion rates, please reach out to your Partner Relations Manager, or contact ApplyBoard’s Partner Relations team at schoolpartnerships@applyboard.com.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The terms student visa and study permit are generally used interchangeably for Canadian international students. Rather than student visas, Canada provides accepted international students with study permits, which allow those students to enrol in classes at Canadian institutions. When a student is accepted for a study permit, they are also usually provided with a visitor visa, which allows that student to enter Canada for their studies. In this article, we’ll use the terms interchangeably.

2. All data is sourced from unless otherwise noted. Most recent government data cited in this article spans January to October 2024. All figures associated with full-year 2024 are ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓprojections based on Jan–Oct 2024 figures and Nov–Dec trends from previous calendar years. Projections may be subject to change based on changing conditions and source data.

3. For the 2024 year, cap-exempt study levels (which are not included in these counts) include primary, secondary, and postgraduate students.

4. While the 2024 student caps did not come into effect until January 22, 2024, and will extend until January 21, 2025, throughout this article we use January 2024 pre-cap student volumes as a proxy for expected student volumes in January 2025.

5. This assumes that study permit approval rate trends hold true to what has occurred over the past three years, where approval rates have fallen in November and December as shown.

6. Canada’s 2024 national cap on study permit applications included several exemptions based on program study level. Cap-exempt study levels included primary and secondary school, master’s programs, and doctoral degrees.

7. Not including master’s and doctoral degrees, although the Minister of Immigration announced in October 2024 that these study levels will be integrated into Canada’s 2025–2026 student caps.

8. Excluding 2020, which was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

9. Exclusion of particular study levels in the 2024 cap may have had the potential to create further limits on capped study levels. For example, if postgraduate student levels had far exceeded initial estimations, it is unclear if this could have necessitated stricter limits on undergraduate applications.

The post What Were the Impacts of Canada’s 2024 International Student Cap? appeared first on ApplyBoard.

2024 was filled with change across the international education sector, and it’s likely 2025 will continue this trend. Student interests continue to shift to a wider range of destinations, new governments and policy decisions are influencing student choice, and many Anglophone destinations are feeling the effects of lower student interest.

Building off our 2025 Trends Report, we’re leveraging the latest information—including our internal data and surveying tools—to predict how the international education sector may evolve through the year ahead.

Here are our top international education sector predictions for 2025.

1. Government Policy and Turnover Will Shape Student Mobility

From campaign rhetoric through the policy changes that follow, elections have wide-ranging effects on how international students see different study destinations. Let’s look at how some recent and upcoming elections, as well as key policy changes, may shift the sector in 2025.

Australia

The next federal election in Australia will be held on or before May 17, 2025, so expect to hear soon how different parties plan to work with the country’s education sector after a very busy 2024.

Over the past year, the Australian government implemented and proposed several significant policy changes affecting international students. Some changes limited visa eligibility, like reducing the maximum age for a Temporary Graduate visa from 50 to 35 or ending the ability to switch from a Temporary Graduate to a Student visa while in Australia. More substantially, the on international student enrolment created uncertainty for prospective students, leading to declining student sentiment about Australia as a destination.

Cooling student sentiment may also lead some students to consider nearby destinations instead. In our first ApplyInsights article for 2025, we highlighted how the international education sector in New Zealand has been growing quickly, perhaps (in part) by attracting students dissuaded by rising costs and changing policies in Australia.

Canada

While Canada wasn’t scheduled to elect its next federal government until October 2025, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation in early January means an election is now possible as early as May. While the for some time, many factors will come into play when Canadians go to the polls later this year.

Whatever the outcome of a Canadian election in 2025, most experts agree that further significant policy changes affecting the international student journey are unlikely, particularly as the sector is still adjusting to the caps placed on study permit applications in early 2024.

The 2024 caps set the target number of approved study permits at 485,000. For 2025, the cap was reduced to 437,000 while including postgraduate students—who were previously exempt. However, as we predicted in Fall 2024, the caps caused a downturn in student interest, contributing to study permit applications decreasing to the extent that the cap target wasn’t reached. This drop in demand also led to widespread concern from Canadian institutions, many of whom have been forced to make difficult decisions about staffing and program offerings as student numbers have declined. In the time since the caps were implemented, some Canadian institutions have seen international student enrolment drop by as much as 50%.¹

United Kingdom

In early 2024, international student interest in the UK dipped as the sector adjusted to new limits on dependents and questions about whether the popular Graduate Route would persist. However, possibly inspired by the new Labour government’s and policy turbulence in Canada and Australia, external perception of the UK had recovered by the fall: In our latest ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓRecruitment Partner Pulse Survey, the UK placed second to the US for its attractiveness as a destination.

A recent Times Higher Education (THE) article also : both issuances of acceptance letters and international student deposits are higher for the January 2025 intake than they were for 2024’s January intake.

United States

In 2025, former President Donald Trump will return to the Oval Office. It has been difficult to miss the calls from several American colleges and universities for their before inauguration, uncertain of how the new administration will proceed. From 2015 to 2020, international student visa applications dropped year-over-year, and F-1 visa issuances slowed compared to the early 2010s:²

Many experts attributed part of this drop to some of the Trump Administration’s rhetoric and policies, which were less welcoming to certain international student populations.³

While foreign enrolment has recovered significantly since, and President Trump expressed at times a more welcoming outlook on international students during the 2024 election cycle, whether F-1 visa applications will continue to rebound remains to be seen. It’s interesting to note that, in the weeks following the 2024 election, , which may also contribute to changing campus compositions in the US and elsewhere.

2. Non-Anglophone Markets Will Capture a Larger Percentage of the Global Student Population

As policy and government changes give some students pause, and fluctuating currencies make some destinations less attainable, we predict international students will choose a wider range of study destinations than ever before in the coming year.

As we highlighted in our 2025 Trends Report, China and India’s growing investment in post-secondary education may not only encourage more students to study domestically, but also attract others from nearby regions. This includes some of the world’s largest international student populations such as students from Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Beyond China and India, earlier this month, we highlighted Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, and Spain as fast-growing study destinations. But they’re not the only ones set to redefine the international education landscape in 2025. Let’s look at some of the other places we think will be top-of-mind for students.

Germany

Many future students are looking to mainland Europe for study destinations. Among them, Germany has surged ahead, its international enrolments growing steadily:

For the 2023/24 winter semester, international enrolments grew by 3% year-over-year. This growth was supported by policy changes that support international students, like the (SIA), introduced in March 2024. The Act doubled the weekly hours that non-EU international students could work while class is in session from 10 to 20. The SIA also implemented new rules that improve labour market access for grads in growing fields like IT and nursing.

Building on this momentum and the recent German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) projections,⁴ it’s reasonable to predict Germany will exceed 400,000 enrolled international students in the 2024/25 academic year.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s , introduced in 2016, aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy through strategic development of key sectors, with post-secondary education among them. Through Vision 2030, the Saudi Arabian government plans to attract top talent to its universities and build a global education hub.

Vision 2030 is bolstered by new scholarships, partnerships with global universities and government entities, and research programs in high-demand areas. Recently, the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and its Education Minister that would enable American graduate students to study in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Meanwhile, social reforms enabling women to drive and travel independently have supported women’s participation in the workforce, which grew from 17% in 2017 to 34% in 2023.⁵ Of that, government data notes just over one-third of these women are in tech roles—which is on par with the global average⁶ and may encourage more diverse students to consider this rising study destination.

Malaysia

With a relatively low cost of living (estimated to be half as expensive as the US),⁷ affordable tuition, and , Malaysia is attracting the attention of many international students. Beyond the official language of Malay, , so many international students may feel at home faster than they might in a purely Anglophone community.

In 2024, demand from East Asian international students accelerated, per a recent report from ICEF. While interest levels from students in other parts of the world remained relatively stable, . This interest may be driven in part by some Chinese students being offered access to Malaysia’s 12-month Graduate Pass, which allows new grads to work in Malaysia after their studies.

The Malaysian government also recently announced its adoption of a centralized system which will use algorithms to verify applicants’ qualifications and certificates immediately. This system aims to speed up application turnaround times, thus improving prospective students’ experiences, while also boosting confidence in key documents’ veracity.⁸

3. Study Choices Will Align Further with In-Demand Fields

As many destinations train international students to replace a rapidly retiring workforce, their governments are prioritizing specific programs or courses that align with high-demand careers for international students. This is not new: incentives like the STEM OPT extension in the US , but it’s something we saw happening more often in 2024 and we expect that to continue in 2025.

For example, to support its goal of attracting 300,000 international students by 2027, the Study Korea 300k project is reshaping South Korea’s education sector. It has designated “special education internationalization zones” for global talent and in STEM. Locally, the city of Busan’s aims to boost the percentage of international students in STEM programs in its post-secondary institutions from 12% to 30% by 2028. Having these students stay in Korea matters, too. One goal of Study Busan 30K is to have at least 40% of international grads transition to working or job-seeker visas.

Elsewhere, the Canadian government exempted some bachelor degree students from new limits on spousal work permit eligibility, which may make it easier for those students to study in Canada and bring their families. Nursing, engineering, and education students’ spouses could still apply for a work permit, where partners of undergraduate students in other programs would not be eligible. Canada also redefined which study programs could lead to a Canadian post-graduation work permit.

Search Data Reveals Increased Alignment with In-Demand Fields

While there are always going to be students who follow their dreams, policy changes like those outlined above affect how viable different programs appear as study opportunities. Plus, changing levels of demand for specific workers means some sectors are more likely to hire new grads, which can influence student decisions about what to study. For example, in line with growing demand for health care workers, 2024 ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓplatform search data showed that interest in health sciences was rising:

In fact, nearly one in five searches by Nigerian students were related to health studies from January through July 2024. Our search platform data showed that several student populations were more interested in health studies this year compared to previous years, which may stem both from their generation’s desire for meaningful work and an understanding of which programs can prepare them for steady, rewarding careers.

In 2025, we expect students to show even more interest in health, engineering, and science courses than they did in 2024.

4. Academic Institutions May Leverage New Partnerships and Become More Specialized

In line with the trends above, students are not the only ones affected by policy changes. As institutions weather the , many are looking for different and innovative ways to offer in-demand courses.

While there is no single solution to these challenges, some institutions may seek to establish new partnerships with other institutions, forge stronger partnerships with local or global industry, or consolidate program offerings.

With fewer international students, some critical programs may be offered at fewer institutions, or require institutions to work together to run them. Courses that require lab space or specialized machinery, which can be more expensive for institutions to maintain, are often in the skilled trades and health sciences.

On the other hand, some institutions may seek to solve funding hurdles by working with industry as a funder. In the US, over the last decade, research deals between universities and American companies have expanded quickly. Many companies have reduced their research spending, and lean on academic institutions to fill that role.⁹

point to how working together gives both colleges and companies access to the best minds (both students and researchers, as well as potential mentorship from established professionals), career opportunities for students, and industry funding making more early-stage research possible. These partnerships are not without challenges, however. Challenges like perceptions of incompatible priorities (balancing education and commercial interests), transactional relationships, patent challenges, or unclear intellectual property ownership all require deft navigation and negotiation.

Whether in industry partnerships or course rescoping, the effects of these potential changes are significant. As such, these are shifts that won’t happen overnight. But, we expect to see more innovative approaches like these in 2025 and beyond.

Upcoming ApplyInsights Content

This year, we’ll cover all of these trends and more in our ApplyInsights articles. Some of the topics we’ll explore over the next few months include:

• Shifts in Study Permit Volumes in Canada
• ĐÇżŐÓ°ĘÓSearch Platform Trends in 2024
• Tracking Student Sentiment with the Spring 2025 Pulse Surveys

Our team will also share our top insights in short videos that you can catch up on during a coffee break or in-between meetings. Every month, our CEO & Co-Founder Meti Basiri will take a quick look at policy updates and key trends in international education in his .

Subscribe to ApplyBoard’s and channels to catch our latest video content.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. Moira MacDonald, University Affairs. “.” Dec. 16, 2024.

2. U.S. Department of State, . Accessed Jan. 2024.

3. David L. Di Maria, The Conversation, “.” Nov. 19, 2020.

4. ICEF Monitor, “.” Jan. 2025.

5. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, . Accessed Jan. 2024.

6. WomenTech Network, “.” Accessed Jan. 2024.

7. My Life Elsewhere, . Accessed Jan. 2024.

8. Kim Martin, The PIE, “.” Jan. 13, 2024.

9. Kenneth R. Lutchen, HBR. “.” Jan. 24, 2018.

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