International Education Week – Open Doors

Beneficiaries

International Education Week (IEW) is an opportunity to celebrate the benefit of international education and exchange worldwide. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education (IIE) are pleased to release new findings from the Open Doors.

Open Doors is a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the United States, and U.S. students studying abroad for academic credit at their home colleges or universities.

In 2021/2022, new international student enrollment rebounded and increased 80%, with the total number of international students enrolled in U.S. institutions up 4% overall as a result.  In Africa our total number of students going to the U.S. to study from the entire region increased to 42,518, an 8.9% increase, more than our pre-COVID number of 41,697. The United States remains the top destination for international students with over 948,000 international students.

In some country like Togo, the decline numbers are due to many factors beyond our control including financial issues, language barrier, and visa issuance. While in 2020 Togo has reached an increase of 13% with 10% of females embracing Scientific studies, this year the decline of 8% is less alarming compared to other west African Countries.

We also see that international students are returning to in-person studies in the United States. Almost 90% of all enrolled students are attending in-person classes. The return to campuses allows international students to build life-long connections with American peers, increasing collaboration across fields of study, and growing America’s international partnerships to address current and future global challenges.

As for the fields of Study in the whole world, (see figure below) STEM studies are leading, especially Engineering, Maths and Computer Sciences, Business Management, and Physical and Life Sciences.