Will the Commonwealth Countries Boom With International Students in 2021?

British Commonwealth Flags

An analysis by the EY is predicting that the British Commonwealth countries could very likely see a huge uptick in foreign student enrollments in the coming year.

Yes, that’s right: Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are probably going to be a hotter study destination than ever this year, so you can pack your gear and get ready for some fun in the sun (or the snowy mountains).

The reason that we might see these countries gain more traction for foreign enrollment this year is largely because of their responses to the COVID-19 crisis that has plagued the world for the past several months.

In fact, so far Australia is talking pretty seriously about opening up as soon as this month (July 2020) to international students.

The EY synthesized data results from over 40,000 surveys taken by prospective international students worldwide, and the results were pretty interesting:

  • The pandemic might not have changed too many students’ minds about leaving home and studying abroad.
  • There were 1.09 million international students studying our destinations we’re talking about today. Right now, in 2020, there are about 330,000. But in 2021, there could be as many as 1.85 million!
  • New Zealand could increase its number of international students by 1%, which is about 10,000 additional students.
  • Australia could increase their share of foreign students by 2%.
  • Canada is likely going to take the cake, increasing by about 6% in 2021.

Again, the decisions of where to go for international students seems to really come down to how countries seemed to handle the pandemic, but the pandemic itself doesn’t seem to have changed their minds about going.

And this is pretty serious stuff because students traveling abroad to learn are going to pay a lot of money to do it. They don’t want suboptimal online distance learning; they want the real thing: in-person classes, going to office hours, and spending time with new friends from all over the world after class.

It’s also important to note that this info is indicative of the changes to come in international enrollment in the abovementioned destination countries, but it’s not a guarantee- we still have a long way to go before the world is up-and-running again. But until that happens and we know for sure, happy hunting for your next study destination from us here at Study-Abroad.org!