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 back-and-forth around implementing caps 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 Conservative Party has been up in the polls 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 confident support of international students and policy turbulence in Canada and Australia, external perception of the UK had recovered by the fall: In our latest ApplyBoard Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey, the UK placed second to the US for its attractiveness as a destination.
A recent Times Higher Education (THE) article also suggests that 2025 is off to a brighter start: 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 current international students to return to the US 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, interest levels among American students wishing to study abroad spiked, 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 Skilled Immigration Act (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 Vision 2030 project, 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 signed a memorandum of understanding 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 seven universities in the world’s top 500, Malaysia is attracting the attention of many international students. Beyond the official language of Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, and English are also spoken widely, 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, the number of applications from East Asia nearly tripled, led by interest from China. 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 have been around since 2016, 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 streamlined the permanent residency process for postgraduate degree holders in STEM. Locally, the city of Busan’s Study Busan 30K project 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 ApplyBoard platform 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 impact of reduced budgets, 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
Supporters of industry partnerships 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
- ApplyBoard Search 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 Behind the Desk series.
Subscribe to ApplyBoard’s LinkedIn and YouTube channels to catch our latest video content.
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FOOTNOTES:
1. Moira MacDonald, University Affairs. “International student fallout hits the bottom line.” Dec. 16, 2024.
2. U.S. Department of State, Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics – Nonimmigrant Worldwide Issuance and Refusal Data by Visa Category. Accessed Jan. 2024.
3. David L. Di Maria, The Conversation, “US colleges report a 43% decline in new international student enrollment, and not just because of the pandemic.” Nov. 19, 2020.
4. ICEF Monitor, “Germany projected to exceed 400,000 international students in 2024/25.” Jan. 2025.
5. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030: Story of Transformation 2023. Accessed Jan. 2024.
6. WomenTech Network, “Women in Tech Stats 2025: Frequently Asked Questions.” Accessed Jan. 2024.
7. My Life Elsewhere, Cost of Living Comparison. Accessed Jan. 2024.
8. Kim Martin, The PIE, “Malaysia looks to streamline international admissions.” Jan. 13, 2024.
9. Kenneth R. Lutchen, HBR. “Why Companies and Universities Should Forge Long-Term Collaborations.” Jan. 24, 2018.
