International Enrollment Rebounds

Inside Higher Ed

Liam Knox

November 14, 2022

International student enrollment bounced back last year after a steep pandemic-fueled decline, according to a new “Open Doors” report from the Institute of International Education. The total number of international students in the U.S. increased by 4 percent in the 2021–22 academic year and an additional 9 percent this fall, following a 15 percent drop in 2020–21.

Allan Goodman, IIE’s CEO, said the rebound is consistent with historical precedent.

“We have over 100 years of data on international student mobility to the United States. This data includes 12 pandemics and shows that educational exchanges occur even during them and grow rapidly afterwards,” he said.

In 2020–21, new international enrollments in U.S. colleges and universities dropped by over 100,000, cutting the previous year’s numbers almost in half, according to the report. But last year, new international student enrollment increased by 80 percent, returning to just below pre-pandemic levels.

The report also found that 90 percent of enrolled international students returned to in-person learning last year, and that international students accounted for 4.7 percent of U.S. higher education’s total student population.

Mirka Martel, IIE’s head of research, evaluation and learning, said the jump likely occurred because students who’d been accepted during the pandemic but deferred for a year finally came to campus.

International graduate students saw the largest rebound, rising by 17 percent and surpassing pre-pandemic levels of growth. Last year marked the first time in a decade that international graduate students outnumbered undergraduates. The report also found that math and computer science surpassed engineering as the primary field of study for international students, with an increase of 10 percent last year.

But among some groups, the pandemic-triggered decline continued, albeit less drastically. While enrollment of first-year international undergraduates rose by 20 percent, total international undergraduate enrollment fell by 4 percent, suggesting that many students who moved home during the pandemic did not return.

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