International students less interested in studying in the US, postgraduate level down 42%

Vietnamese people learn about opportunities to study in the US with representatives of this country's universities at an event held in 2024.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

Decreased from the beginning of 2025 to present

Data released by the Netherlands-based education organization StudyPortals shows that interest in studying in the US at the graduate level has been falling sharply in the first three months of 2025. The downward trend began in the first week of January, when the Republican Party took control of both houses of the US Congress and Donald Trump was about to take office as US President.

Edwin van Rest, CEO of StudyPortals, an online portal used by 55 million prospective international students from 240 countries and territories to research and apply, said demand for master's or doctoral degrees in the US dropped 42% from early January to early March. "The increasing visa refusal rate has played a major role in the decline in demand for studying in the US," Rest told University World News . Another reason, Rest said, is the reduction in federal funding for universities.

According to the study results, interest in studying in the US at the graduate level decreased the most among Iranian and Bangladeshi students, by 61% and 54%, respectively. Meanwhile, interest from India, Pakistan, and Nigeria all decreased by more than 36%. These are all countries with the highest number of international students in the US, of which India is the country with the largest number of international students in the US in the 2023-2024 school year.

Another notable aspect is that the number of international students searching for information about training programs in both the US and the UK has increased by nearly 20% in the past half year. Subjects such as business administration or computer science have seen a higher increase, over 25%. In addition, nearly 7 out of 100 searches for information about bachelor's and master's programs in the US are also looking at similar options in the UK, and nearly 4 in Canada.

Despite many fluctuations, interest in studying abroad in the US in the first quarter is still leading, according to research by StudyPortals

PHOTO: STUDYPORTALS

This shows that not only is interest decreasing, but international students are also considering more diverse options instead of focusing solely on the US when studying abroad. However, despite the many changes, the US still holds a dominant position among the world's top study abroad destinations, far surpassing countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy and Canada, according to statistics from StudyPortals.

Many notable moves on studying in the US

StudyPortals commented that American higher education is going through a "turning point", but it is not yet clear how and in what direction that transformation will take place. "However, one thing that is clear is that President Donald Trump is working to fulfill the commitments he made during the 2024 campaign," the report said.

Currently, the US government has expressed its intention to cut or temporarily withhold funding for a number of leading universities such as Harvard, Columbia and Pennsylvania. On the student side, students are being affected by a number of regulations, such as freezing funding for a series of scholarships, exchange programs or the possibility of applying an entry ban to 43 countries.

In addition, in recent days, the US media has continuously reported that many international students in this country have had their visas revoked, and some US universities have advised international students and lecturers, even if they have green cards, to avoid leaving the US at this time. A series of US universities have also stopped recruiting lecturers and cut down on doctoral enrollment, while waiting for official news about funding from the federal budget.

According to statistics from ICE, in 2023, there were 31,310 Vietnamese studying in the US, ranking 6th in the number of international students. This is the first time the number of Vietnamese studying in the US has reached more than 30,000 after 2 years below 30,000. However, if we only consider the number of international students in kindergarten to high school, Vietnam is the 5th largest with 3,187 people and behind China, South Korea, Mexico, and Spain.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-hoc-sinh-it-quan-tam-hon-toi-du-hoc-my-bac-sau-dh-giam-42-18525041014133396.htm