Student exchange is part of a much larger international education system. UNESCO’s current figure is 7.3 million students studying abroad worldwide, while OECD countries recorded 5.02 million internationally mobile tertiary students in 2023. The totals are not interchangeable: sources distinguish students completing degrees abroad from students temporarily earning credits overseas.
Contents
- Global scale and participation
- Where students study in the European Union
- Who comes to the EU and what they study
- Credit mobility and exchange destinations
- OECD mobility patterns and policy targets
- United States inbound and outbound mobility
Global scale and participation
The worldwide number of students studying abroad increased from 2 million in 2000 to 7.3 million in UNESCO’s current figure, published during 2023–2026. That growth places international study within a global higher-education population of more than 269 million students. These figures describe international study broadly, rather than only short-term exchange placements. UNESCO, Global Convention on Higher Education
As of July 2026, the 42 States Parties to UNESCO’s Global Convention hosted 30% of internationally mobile students, or 2.2 million people. The percentage and count refer specifically to that group of States Parties, not to every country participating in international education.
The OECD recorded 5.02 million internationally mobile students in tertiary education across OECD countries in 2023. The United States accounted for 957,000 of them. In the same OECD source, Erasmus+ was reported to have passed 16 million participants since the Erasmus programme began in 1987. OECD, Education at a Glance 2025
Temporary exchange is an important part of that picture. In most countries, 71% of credit-mobile students were non-degree mobile students in 2023. For those students, the exchange was their only form of international mobility. This is why a student-exchange measure can look very different from a count of students enrolled in a foreign institution for a full degree.
Where students study in the European Union
The European Union had 1.83 million students from abroad undertaking tertiary studies in 2024. Their level of study was concentrated in bachelor’s and master’s education: bachelor’s students represented 44.0% and master’s students 44.9%. Doctoral students represented 8.8%. Eurostat, Learning mobility statistics
The largest host totals were concentrated in a few countries.
| EU host country | Students from abroad | Share of EU total |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 438,300 | 24.0% |
| France | 284,900 | 15.6% |
| Netherlands | 176,500 | 9.7% |
The Netherlands figure excludes doctoral students. The three reported host totals therefore should be read with the source’s coverage detail in mind, rather than treated as a perfectly uniform comparison.
The share of students from abroad within a country’s own tertiary student population varied sharply. Luxembourg had the highest EU share at 51.5%, followed by Malta at 35.6% and Cyprus at 21.6%. At the other end of the table, students from abroad represented 5.3% of Italy’s tertiary students and 2.6% of Greece’s, the lowest EU share reported there. These percentages measure the international composition of each national tertiary population, not the absolute size of its international intake.
Who comes to the EU and what they study
European proximity shaped the international student mix in several EU countries in 2024. Students from elsewhere in Europe accounted for 90.8% of students from abroad in Slovakia, 87.3% in Bulgaria, 87.3% in Slovenia and 87.2% in Greece. France had a much smaller European share, at 17.9%.
Other destinations had distinctive regional profiles. Students from Asia represented between 40.0% and 50.0% of tertiary students from abroad in Latvia, Finland, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary and Malta. Students from Africa accounted for 53.0% of students from abroad in France, while students from the Caribbean, Central and South America accounted for 47.7% in Spain. These are origin-region shares within each country’s international student population.
The fields chosen by students from abroad also had a clear concentration across the EU. Business, administration and law accounted for 22.1% of tertiary students from abroad. Engineering, manufacturing and construction represented 17.9%, while health and welfare represented 13.7%. Finland recorded the highest country share in the EU table for information and communication technologies, at 21.5% of its students from abroad.
Taken together, the figures show that “international student” is not one uniform group. A country can have a large international population because of nearby European mobility, long-distance recruitment, a strong doctoral sector, or a particular field of study. The 2024 Eurostat measures make those differences visible without combining them into one undifferentiated ranking.
Credit mobility and exchange destinations
Credit mobility is the closest match to many traditional exchange programmes. Eurostat counted 363,900 EU graduates with credit mobility lasting at least three months in 2022. They represented 8.9% of the EU’s 4.1 million graduates. France accounted for 179,997 credit-mobile graduates, or 49.5% of the EU total; Germany accounted for 51,100, or 14.0%; and Italy accounted for 47,815, or 13.1%. Eurostat, Almost 9% of EU graduates in 2022 studied abroad
The most common destinations in the 2022 Eurostat comparison were Spain, at 11.1% of EU credit-mobile graduates, the United Kingdom at 9.7% and the United States at 7.2%. Greece received 54.3% of its credit-mobile graduates from Cyprus, the highest bilateral share highlighted by Eurostat.
Eurostat’s 2024 figures reported around 418,400 EU graduates with credit mobility, but the source says coverage was incomplete. Among those credit-mobile graduates, 51% were in master’s or equivalent studies and 44% in bachelor’s or equivalent studies. France recorded 186,500, ahead of Spain with 45,700 and Italy with 44,600.
Programme structures mattered. EU programmes such as Erasmus+ accounted for 64.7% of credit-mobile bachelor’s graduates in the EU in 2024. In Cyprus, the figure was 100.0%. Denmark had 48.1% of its credit-mobile graduates in other international or national programmes. These measures refer to programme participation, not to the total number of students studying abroad for a full degree.
OECD mobility patterns and policy targets
The OECD reported that the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada together received 46% of internationally mobile students in OECD and partner countries in 2023. International students made up 23% of tertiary students in Australia, 22% in the United Kingdom, 12% in Germany and 9% in France. OECD, International Student Mobility
Mobility was more prevalent at advanced levels of study. Across OECD countries, international students represented about 5% of bachelor’s enrolments, 19% of master’s enrolments and 27% of doctoral enrolments in 2024. They also made up about 30% of STEM enrolments, compared with 19% among domestic students. In 2023, Asia accounted for 58% of international students enrolled in OECD countries, while Europe accounted for 19%.
The direction of travel changed in the latest period reported. International student flows to OECD countries fell 13% from 2023 to 2024. Canada’s flow fell 39% and Australia’s fell 22%. Those are year-to-year changes in flows, not evidence that the entire stock of international students declined by the same percentages.
Some governments have stated future recruitment targets. France set a target of 500,000 international students by 2027, while Japan set a target of 400,000 by 2033. These are forecasts or policy targets, not achieved outcomes, and should not be compared with current enrolment totals as if they were measurements of present participation.
United States inbound and outbound mobility
U.S. colleges and universities hosted 1,126,690 international students during the 2023/24 academic year, up 7% year over year. International students accounted for 6% of the total U.S. higher-education population. The same Open Doors release counted 502,291 international graduate students, up 8%, and 342,875 international undergraduates, down 1%. Institute of International Education, United States Hosts More Than 1.1 Million International Students
The U.S. total also included 242,782 international students on Optional Practical Training, up 22%. New international students enrolling in U.S. higher education numbered 298,705, essentially unchanged from the prior year within 0.1%.
India sent 331,602 students to the United States in 2023/24, up 23% year over year. China sent 277,398, down 4%. The release also reported that more than half of international students, 56%, pursued STEM fields: 25% studied mathematics and computer science and 19% studied engineering.
Outbound U.S. mobility followed a different measurement period. U.S. students studying abroad for academic credit numbered 280,716 in the 2022/23 academic year, up 49% year over year. Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and France together hosted nearly half, or 45%, of those U.S. study-abroad students. This Open Doors measure is academic-credit mobility, so it should be kept separate from the U.S. inbound total for 2023/24.