International Students Are Seeking Postgraduate Education at an All-Time High

For many years, the growth of international education has been fuelled by undergraduate students. This has been true across the world’s largest destination markets. But recent data suggests that trend is flipping.

Postgraduate programs are more popular among international students than they’ve ever been, and demand is primed to continue to rise. Today, we’re unpacking the building blocks of that popularity. We’ll be taking a closer look at Canada, the UK, and the US, analyzing shifts in international student volumes from undergraduate to postgraduate at the university level.

Curious how this shift in the market could impact international recruitment? Keep reading. We’ve got you covered.

UK Postgraduate Programs are Snowballing in Popularity

There may be no better case study for the surging popularity of postgraduate programs among destination markets than the UK. The 256,000 new international students enrolled at the postgraduate level at UK institutions was an all-time high in the academic year 2021/22, a record for the largest single-year postgraduate enrollment increase in recorded history (+33%).¹

Let’s take a look at how undergraduate enrollment has stacked up against postgraduate in recent years:

Postgraduate programs have outpaced undergraduate programs in each of the past five academic years in the UK. This is an outlier compared to other large destination markets like Canada and the US, and is largely accounted for by the short length of many UK postgraduate programs—10 months, compared to North America’s two years.

The gap in popularity between undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the UK is growing, as well. Postgraduate students accounted for 71% of all first-year enrollments among international students in 2021/22, compared to 58% in 2017/18.

Many UK universities have seen an increase in overseas interest in postgraduate taught courses since the pandemic. Some institutions, like the University of Bradford, have even closed applications to several postgraduate courses early as a result.

Let’s take a look at which nationalities are contributing to the growing popularity of postgraduate courses in the UK:

This list features some of the biggest source markets in international education. India, China, Nigeria, and Pakistan were the top four source markets in both the overall and postgraduate rankings in 2021/22. Not only do these markets (outside of China) drive impact from a volume standpoint, they’re also displaying incredible growth.

The combination of volume and growth in postgraduate enrollment numbers among these nations suggests this trend of postgraduate popularity will continue.

Other countries, such as Sri Lanka (+187% YOY growth) and Nepal (+129% YOY growth), rank as some of the fastest-growing postgraduate source markets in the UK and should supplement the long-term growth of this study level.

US Graduate Enrollment at an All-Time High

For the last decade, new undergraduate and postgraduate enrollment among international students in the US has been roughly equal. From 2012/13 to 2020/21, 49% of new international students joined US institutions at the undergraduate level and 51% pursued their education at the graduate level.²

In 2021/22, that gap widened significantly. Take a look at the graph below:

Last year, over 146,500 international students enrolled in graduate programs at US institutions, while we saw just north of 90,000 international enrollments at the undergraduate level. This marked an all-time high for new international students enrolled at the graduate level.

This boom surpassed the previous high—set in 2015/16—by 16%, and represented 122% growth over 2020/21.

For the first time in a decade, there were more total international graduate students than undergraduates from abroad at American universities.

Let’s take a look at the countries driving this shift. The following table ranks the top 25 US postgraduate source markets in 2021/22. Click on the each column heading to sort the data by volume or YOY growth:

Driving this postgraduate increase in the US are Indian students. India was the fastest-growing and the number two postgraduate source market in the US last year. Recently released data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) supports this trend.

According to CGS’s Fall 2022 International Graduate Applications and Enrollment report, the number of first-year Indian students enrolled in US graduate programs grew by 58% between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022, compared to a 3% decrease for Chinese students. Numbers softened from the previous year, when first-time enrollment of Indian students and Chinese students increased by 430% and 35%, respectively.

We’re also seeing impressive growth from a host of other Asian countries when it comes to postgraduate enrollment. Overall, Asian countries represented 76% of all first-time international students enrolled in US graduate certificate programs in Fall 2022.

Two years clear of pandemic-related travel restrictions, it’s safe to say that graduate interest among Indian students is a very real trend. India’s back-to-back years of incredibly strong enrollment have reversed the negative growth we saw between Fall 2016 and Fall 2019, and numbers now exceed pre-COVID levels. While China’s numbers have not yet bounced back to the same degree, the end of Chinese “zero-COVID” restrictions could help this number rebound, as we’re seeing in Australia.

2022/23 data should provide us with a firm indication of exactly where study level distribution is headed among Chinese students.

Work Opportunities Drive Popularity of Canadian Postgraduate Programs

In 2019, over 33,000 graduates of postgraduate programs entered the Canadian workforce as skilled workers. Two out of every three were international students. The importance of a smooth transition to the workforce has been well documented as a growing priority among international students. Another key area of focus for this group is permanent residency (PR).

The latest Statistics Canada data indicates that postgraduate degrees can propel students toward achieving both of these priorities. The following chart tracks the amount of time it takes international graduates from different study levels to transition to permanent residency.

8 in 10 international students who completed a college postgraduate credential in 2015 gained permanent residency within 5 years of graduation, while 7 in 10 master’s graduates gained PR within the same time. Both far outpaced the rate at which bachelor’s graduates gained PR (50%).

International students with both master’s and college postgraduate credentials were more likely than those with bachelor’s degrees to have earnings four years after graduation.³

Another interesting layer of these findings is that postgraduate college diploma holders secured PR at a higher rate than non-graduate college diploma holders, indicating that at both the college and university level, postgraduate students have a higher likelihood of obtaining PR two years after graduation.

Overall, we’re seeing the distribution of undergraduate vs. postgraduate students in Canada reflect these findings. Let’s take a closer look at how this gap is shifting at the university level:

In 2016, 39% of first-year international university students were issued student visas for postgraduate programs. Over the next seven years, postgraduate programs steadily rose in popularity. The last full year of Canadian data (2022) pegged the distribution at 47% postgraduate, 53% undergraduate. Four months into 2023 and we’re seeing that gap narrow even further, as over 48% of first year international students at Canadian universities are studying at the postgraduate level.⁴

For students with the eventual goal of gaining permanent residency status in Canada, postgraduate programs are becoming the popular choice. Although they come with the tradeoff of delaying international education until students gain the undergraduate qualifications necessary to apply, the shorter length and lower cost of postgraduate education is attractive—especially when a streamlined path to earning money in their field of study is a benefit afforded to them.

Building an Ecosystem for International Students to Succeed

Institutions that foster and teach the best international talent in the world will likely be the ones which prioritize students’ transition to the workplace. An international student’s journey is just beginning when they graduate. Institutional services and support should reflect a clear understanding of that.

Many graduate students, particularly those from low-income families or who come with dependents, experience an array of challenges, like uncertainty surrounding their career pathways and limited professional development.

Part of the onus falls on students to do their own job market research before they arrive on campus, but institutions also need to do their part. Providing international graduate students with access to robust support systems that address common obstacles affecting their understanding of the job market, industry work experience, and mentorship opportunities, to aid with their integration into the workforce.

A great example of this can be found in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Job Search Club. This resource, designed specifically for international students looking to learn about the Canadian job market, guides students through each step of an effective job search process, resume building, work permits, and more. It takes a strengths-based approach and also gives participants an opportunity to network with peers from various faculties and connect with industry professionals.

As application data reflects the priority students are placing on postgraduate work, institutions must listen. Providing students with tailored best practices for job applications and interview preparation, and building professional learning communities so they can learn how to build connections, is critical to the international student experience.

The more institutions do to enable the mindset of “outside the box” thinking when considering career paths and assessing the job market, the better equipped graduates will be to market themselves professionally and make an impact in their field.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All UK data courtesy of HESA, unless otherwise noted.

2. All US data courtesy of the Institute of International Education (IIE) Open Doors reports, unless otherwise noted.

3. Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System 2019/2020.

4. All Canadian data courtesy of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), unless otherwise noted.