India will become the largest domestic higher education market by 2025, while China will remain the number one provider of international students globally, according to a British Council study. The study indicates that India will have the largest 18-22-year-old population in ten years — 119 million. The next biggest group will be in China, despite the projection that the number of Chinese in this age group will decline by roughly 35 million to 80 million. In 2012, China’s student population was 115,560,000, overtaking India’s by 71,000. Nigeria will see the highest increase in youth population, projected at about 7.4 million, to reach 23 million in 2025. Other countries that will have much bigger student populations over the next decade include Indonesia (up 3.7 million) and Ethiopia (up 3.6 million). The Shape of International Education to 2025 report predicts that the African youth population will equal, and then surpass the Asian youth population around 2078. The study is part of the British Council’s ‘Shape of Things to Come’ series presented at its annual Services for International Education Marketing conference in Edinburgh on December 10. The report adds that the trend of the US and the UK facing decreases in their global market share of international students “looks set to continue” as provision of education in traditional origin countries expands. It suggests that Sri Lanka will see the highest annual percentage growth in household income over the next decade, 5.8 percent per annum, while strong average annual growth is also forecast for Vietnam (5.5 percent), Uzbekistan (5.3 percent), China (5.1 percent), Bangladesh (4.7 percent) and Indonesia (4.3 percent). Based on figures of household wealth and population projections, as well as trends in tertiary education, the British Council predicts that China will continue to be the top supplier of international students globally in 2025, followed by India, Nigeria, Germany and Saudi Arabia, while India will be home to the largest domestic higher education market, followed by China and the US. A separate report published by the UK Higher Education International Unit in early December reveals that a higher proportion of international students would recommend the UK than any of its major English-speaking competitors. Figures in the study, International Undergraduate Students: The UK’s Competitive Advantage, show that international undergraduate student satisfaction with UK higher education is at 91 percent, while 85 percent of international undergraduates would recommend or actively recommend their UK study experience. The findings are based on feedback from 365,754 international students, which was collected from i-graduate’s International Student Barometer. Successful higher ed model England’s higher education spending increased in the first year of £9,000 tuition fees and its financing system allowed it to “raise spending in difficult times”, unlike European rivals. But the country has the most expensive public universities in the world. These developments are reported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whose annual Education at a Glance report includes data from England’s post-2012 system for the first time this year. The UK is reported to have…
