This report examines key international student mobility indicators for the next decade and provides forecasts on global higher education growth. Building upon the findings of the British Council’s 2012 report, The shape of things to come: higher education global trends and emerging opportunities to 2020, this new research indicates that forecast growth in outbound mobile higher education students will continue to present a significant opportunity for nations to retain and attract increasing numbers of international students. 

Among the forecast findings for 56 shortlisted countries:

  • By 2024, it is expected that there will be 3.85 million outbound mobile higher education students globally, up from 3.04 million in 2011, with India and China contributing 35 percent of global growth during the forecast period
  • The major bilateral student flows in 2024, in terms of volume, will continue to be from China and India, to traditional host markets. But flows between Nigeria and the UK, Saudi Arabia and the US and UK, Pakistan and the UK, and Nepal and the US will be among the top ten fastest growing bilateral flows between 2011 and 2024
  • By 2024, India, China, Indonesia and the US will be home to over 50 percent of the world’s 18-22 year old population, despite the fact that the Chinese tertiary-aged population is projected to fall by roughly 40 million in the next decade

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