As geopolitical tensions shift traditional student inflows, diverse student bodies help to mitigate against enrolment shocks caused by single policy changes. Additionally, different perspectives in the classroom creates a stronger study experience for everyone.

The question for destination markets becomes, then, what is the next major student population?

Enter Brazil. With more than 110,000 students studying abroad in 2024, Brazil is the world’s largest Latin American international student population.¹ Also, with nearly 30 million people between the ages of 15 and 24, Brazil has the eighth largest youth population in the world.² This combined demographic scale represents a generation of students with growing aspirations for international education, meaning the destinations that build stronger study corridors with Brazil will be set up to benefit over the long term.

Below, we’re diving into the state of the Brazilian student population in the first of a two-part series. Today we’re examining what drives Brazilian student mobility at the macro level. Next week, we’ll see how Brazilian demand has responded to recent policy shifts in the major Anglophone destinations.

Tracking Brazilian Demand for an International Study Experience

Nearly 90,000 Brazilian tertiary-level students pursued an international education in 2023, according to UNESCO’s latest data:

The number of outbound Brazilian students pursuing tertiary education began to climb rapidly after 2015. Indeed, by 2023, the data shows nearly double the number of Brazilians choosing to study internationally. And it’s important to note that UNESCO tracks tertiary education only.

And Brazilian Educational & Language Travel Association (BELTA) surveys which captured findings from spring 2026 suggest that this upward momentum has carried into more recent years. BELTA surveyed 74 education agencies operating nearly 600 locations nationwide. 53% of respondents said they sent more students abroad in 2025 than in 2024, with another 17% indicating placements remained stable. The average growth rate among respondents was 9.4% year-over-year.

Moreover, these agencies forecast an even stronger year demand-wise in 2026. 73% of respondents expect to see their placements grow while another 17% anticipate their business to be stable year-over-year. Respondents predicted an average growth rate of 16.6% for 2026.

English Learning a Top Driver of Demand Among Brazilian Students

English language proficiency is one of the largest barriers for Brazilian students hoping to study in a major Anglophone destination. EF Education First’s most recent English Proficiency Index (EPI) placed Brazil 75th in the world, with a score of 482 in 2025. While this was only slightly below the global average EPI score of 488, it still falls in EF’s “low” range. For comparison, 14 LATAM countries scored in the “moderate” or “high” range, while only 5 others fell in the “low” or “very low” range.

Further amplifying this challenge is that, since the pandemic, Brazilians between the ages of 18 and 20 have had a much lower EPI score than those between 21 and 30:

Brazilians between 18 and 20 have had an EPI score below 500—EF’s “moderate” proficiency threshold—in each of the past four years. This means Brazilians fresh out of secondary schools are likely to require additional English learning support to meet the entry requirements of their Anglophone destination of choice.

It’s not surprising to see, then, that when BELTA surveyed nearly 2,300 Brazilian students who either had or wanted to study internationally, 46% responded that they were interested in a language learning program. Moreover, interest in English-language studies are high: Of the 85% of respondents who indicated they had at least one international education-related experience already, 68% had studied in English.

English proficiency levels also vary across the country:

Brazilian states in the south and southeast score well above the national EPI average, with Distrito Federal at 541, Rio Grande do Sul at 539, Santa Catarina at 534, and the city of São Paulo at 518. Northern and interior states lag considerably, particularly in Tocantins (424) and Rondônia (434).

Institutions and international education advisors working with Brazilian students need to account for this regional variation. A student from Florianópolis and a student from Belém may arrive with very different English preparation and require different program pathways.

All told, the EPI gap—whether by age group or region—means English Language Training (ELT) programs serve as a high demand entry point for the Brazilian enrolment journey. The ELT-to-higher-education pathway is arguably the dominant model for Brazilian students, and institutions that design flexible study pathways with built-in ELT options, including preparatory semesters or language-to-degree progression routes, will be better positioned to build demand among Brazilian students.

Brazilian Choices Further Shaped by Cost Sensitivities

Brazilians between the ages 21 and 29 scored much higher on EF’s EPI scale than their younger counterparts. While this means older Brazilian students may be more ready to study abroad from an English proficiency perspective, applications from mature students typically face higher levels of scrutiny, particularly around proof of funding.

It tracks, then, that BELTA’s education agency survey found that currency exchange rates were the single most cited factor in whether a student placement succeeded.

While the war in West Asia recently weakened the real, Trading Economics data shows the Brazilian real still up by nearly 5% against the US dollar year-over-year as of June 29, 2026, and it remains in a more favourable position than it was during its sharp depreciation in late 2024. The real’s stronger position compared to a year ago means some reduced pressure on Brazilian families budgeting for tuition, rent, flights, insurance, and daily expenses abroad.

Note: the axis in the chart below captures the exchange rate of R$ to US$

The broader economic outlook also points to Brazil’s significant long-term potential. The IMF projects that Brazil’s economy will grow by 1.9% in 2026, and while the OECD forecasts slower growth of 1.6% in 2026, it also expects a modest rebound of 2.1% in 2027. Brazil’s central bank offers a similar near-term view, projecting moderate economic expansion in 2026.

Together, these indicators support a more nuanced view of Brazil’s future. It’s a country with a large prospective student population, where macroeconomic conditions are strong enough to sustain outbound interest, but not strong enough to make cost a secondary concern.

For institutions in popular study destinations, this means that converting demand into enrolments can be improved through cost certainty. Institutions that offer competitive scholarships, work-integrated learning options, and language-to-degree pathways will be better positioned to attract top talent from Brazil.

Unlocking the Potential of the Brazilian Student Population

With nearly 30 million people between the ages of 15 and 24, Brazil’s sizable student-aged population means that the destination countries that reduce barriers to education the fastest stand to potentially gain decades-long benefits. Indeed, the Brazilian student population will likely be important in the years ahead for institutions building student diversity on their campuses.

Providing more language pathway resources is crucial to meeting the needs of these students. Likewise, cost certainty always matters, but especially so when geopolitical tensions put pressure on the global economy.

At ApplyBoard, our teams work every day with governments and sector institutions to address these barriers. In fact, 97% of Brazilian students who applied to a Canadian academic institution for the 2025 intake year were approved for their student visa. Reach out to our commercial partnerships team to take your student recruitment to the next level, and stay tuned for the second part of this series next week.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The latest UNESCO data shows 89,500 Brazilian students pursued tertiary studies abroad in 2023, with ICEF’s findings showing more than 110,000 Brazilian students abroad across all study levels in 2023/24..

2. MeasuredWorld, Population aged 15-24 years (youth) (2026).

The post What’s Driving Brazilian International Student Mobility? appeared first on ApplyBoard.

As a world leading platform for international student recruitment, it’s important for ApplyBoard to have a transparent process for vetting International Education Advisors (advisors) when they apply to join our network. As a result of that process, around 24% of businesses that attempt to register with ApplyBoard don’t gain active access to our platform.

However, due diligence and accountability don’t stop after the initial vetting process. After unlocking full platform access, the advisor transitions from simply browsing to actively building their business. At this point, continuous performance monitoring officially begins to ensure our partners remain compliant with ApplyBoard’s quality standards. That ongoing performance monitoring is what we’re looking at today. 

What We’re Covering

• ApplyBoard provides reliable, direct support to advisors in over 110 countries with our team of over 200 account managers
• We monitor advisor performance using the ApplyBoard Elevate program, rewarding positive student outcomes
• Our team actively screens for risk, enforcing strict business conduct standards with non-compliance consequences that range from tailored improvement plans to permanent blocklisting

Strengthening the Sector

As part of our Strengthening the Sector series, we’re exploring the many ways that ApplyBoard pushes the international education sector forward. 

In this entry, we’ll look at how ApplyBoard conducts performance monitoring, including how we enable our trusted advisors to set their students up for success—and, in rare cases, how we take action when contractual obligations aren’t met.

Read the other articles in this series as they’re published:

• International Education Advisor Vetting
• Sector Training (Update pending)
• Application Pre-Screening
• Document Authentication (Update pending)

Measuring Advisor Performance

ApplyBoard’s commitment to providing the best experience extends beyond the initial approval process. Once an advisor gains full access, our automated systems begin tracking their specific actions across the ApplyBoard platform.

Continuous Quality and Performance Monitoring

While ApplyBoard Elevate rewards advisors’ positive business performance over a rolling 12-month period, our due diligence extends far beyond this, with risk and compliance being handled separately. Our team has developed a comprehensive compliance framework, which guides how we monitor our advisor network. Thorough performance monitoring helps to  ensure business conduct standards are consistently being met.

Our ongoing oversight processes identify potential risks early by:

• Conducting periodic reviews of business registrations and account information
• Continuously assessing application quality, document integrity, student outcomes, trends, and other metrics.
• Reviewing advisor performance and adherence to our best practices
• Investigating complaints, suspicious activity, or reported misconduct

Proactive Risk Screening and Verification

Our teams regularly review business entities and authorized representatives to protect our partner institutions.

We proactively screen for risk by:

• Auditing businesses against international sanctions and watchlists
• Checking Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) databases on an ongoing basis
• Reviewing regulatory enforcement records and industry indicators

Personalized Support

ApplyBoard has a global network of over 200 account managers who provide dedicated support to education advisors around the world. This personalized support helps our partners succeed.

Account managers keep their advisors up-to-date about the latest partner institutions and open programs on the ApplyBoard platform. They also share unique training opportunities, sector updates and trends, and are readily available to answer questions.

• Supplying advisors with the latest international education news and trends
• Passing along unique sector training opportunities
• Being readily available to answer questions and directly assist partners

Compliance Enforcement Framework

All advisors must abide by a contract which is aligned with global ethical standards, as well as ApplyBoard’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. These measures ensure accountability to protect the reputation and wellbeing of future international students and ApplyBoard’s partner institutions. 

To address policy violations or document irregularities, ApplyBoard uses a transparent, risk-based compliance and enforcement framework. Depending on the nature and impact of an issue, our enforcement actions prioritize education first, and may include:

• Providing educational guidance and corrective action requirements
• Issuing formal warnings
• Placing accounts under enhanced monitoring
• Implementing temporary restrictions or platform suspensions
• Enforcing permanent account termination and blocklisting 

If an education advisor’s contract is terminated with ApplyBoard on compliance grounds, they’re placed on a blocklist. Those individuals or organizations may be permanently prevented from working with ApplyBoard or its partner institutions on our platform.

This approach ensures that only qualified, credible, and ethical advisors continue to work with ApplyBoard, further reinforcing our commitment to maintaining trust and operational excellence in the international education sector.

Sector Training

Any strong relationship takes work to sustain. One of the principles that has allowed us to build lasting partnerships with our advisors is a commitment to continuous improvement. 

That’s why the next article in our Strengthening the Sector series will dive into sector training. We’ll detail how we incentivize our advisors to not just stay informed on international education trends and destination country policies, but also how to guide their students through the entire application process. 

Don’t miss out—stay involved in the conversation by subscribing to ApplyInsights.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of ApplyBoard unless otherwise stated.

The post How ApplyBoard Monitors and Manages Our International Education Advisor Network appeared first on ApplyBoard.

At ApplyBoard, our mission to educate the world is built into everything we do. It underpins our conversations with partner institutions, our product innovations, and of course, the guidance we offer to students. Since 2015, we’ve helped more than 1.5 million students from over 180 countries pursue an education at one of our 1,500+ partner institutions.

None of this would be possible without our network of qualified international education advisors.

This diverse network, spread across 110 countries, plays a key role in helping our partner institutions recruit the world’s brightest students. As these students and institutions place their trust in us, it’s critical that ApplyBoard carefully vets advisors, conducts regular audits, and ensures every member of our network meets our quality standards.

Strengthening the Sector

Within our Strengthening the Sector article series, we’ll explore some of the ways that ApplyBoard advances the international education sector forward. 

Below, we’ll look at how international education advisors become ApplyBoard partners, and the strict vetting process they undergo before they can access our platform. 

Read the other articles in this series as they’re published:

• Application Pre-Screening
• Ongoing Performance Monitoring
• Sector Training
• Document Authentication

Protecting the Quality of Our Network

As the needs of international students evolve, so do the requirements we set for our advisors. Despite the size of our network, we’re selective about who we partner with to protect our platform against bad actors. While some agents have been known to ignore best recruitment practices, or give students inaccurate advice, our vetting process safeguards our users, partner institutions, and proprietary technology. 

ApplyBoard’s vetting process ultimately filters out around 24% of the businesses that approach us about partnership.

We lean on a host of data points and specific checks to help us assess the fit of potential partners. And to ensure consistent quality, we continuously evolve our vetting process, tailoring it for different geographic areas. This way, partner institutions can be certain their campuses and programs are being represented accurately to students.

ApplyBoard’s Advisor Vetting Process

Here’s an overview of our advisor application and vetting process:

1. Initial Outreach

The recruiter or advisor finds us online, or is referred by a partner institution or someone else in the sector. In some cases, ApplyBoard contacts the recruiter directly.

2. Candidate Registration 

The candidate signs up to join our platform, and agrees to our general Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

3. Candidate Risk and Compliance Screening

Candidate advisors must provide several pieces of information, including photo ID and business registration. They are then audited by ApplyBoard. We also look into their commitment to recruitment best practices. Our process includes the following steps:

1. • Complete a business registration review (against national or regional databases)
   • Complete a licensing or regulatory body certificate check (as applicable)
   • Check against internal and industry blocklists
   • Check against international sanctions and watchlists
   • Check information against Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) databases and high-risk or restricted organization databases
   • Check public databases of certified agents and advisors
   • Verify the new account doesn’t overlap or duplicate an existing account
   • Complete a website and social media audit
   • Share feedback with the applicant

ApplyBoard completes a comprehensive review which goes beyond professional documents to the advisor’s full online and business presence. We check to make sure the applicant is certified, that they aren’t on our (or any external) blocklists, and that they have a good public reputation. We even check their website and social media to evaluate for professionalism.

4. Registration is Approved or Rejected

5. In-Person Visit

In certain jurisdictions, an ApplyBoard account manager will evaluate professionalism and conduct by visiting the candidate’s office in person.

6. Candidate Agrees to ApplyBoard’s Essential Terms, and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

7. Partnership Decision is Made

Advisors don’t get full access to the ApplyBoard platform until the vetting process is complete.

What Our Partner Institutions Have to Say

ApplyBoard’s commitment to working with the best international education advisors, and providing the highest quality of service, is critical to driving success for our partners at academic institutions. 

Here are some testimonials from our partner institutions about the importance of quality and consistency when working with education advisors:

“When you ask representatives from international recruitment offices to evaluate the success (or not) of their various recruitment channels—agents and recruitment partners, institutional partnerships, etc.—most simply default to a cursory assessment of success as defined by student numbers. Others add another layer and look at conversion rates.

“Now, if I consider these two metrics, ApplyBoard performs very well. Overall student numbers have been strong and, as mentioned before, conversion rates are exceptional. At the University of the Fraser Valley, we’ve added a few additional metrics to try and get a better picture of how these various recruitment channels are performing.

“Those are (1) the average GPA of students sent during a particular period, and (2) the percentage of students on (or not on) academic warning. This gives a much fuller picture of the quality of a recruitment partner. And this is where ApplyBoard shines. They are the only partner to excel in all four metrics.”

“Students from ApplyBoard are well informed about the program they’ve applied to and are committed to their studies. They’ve usually been provided with realistic information about our campuses and communities. ApplyBoard has helped us increase overall international numbers, as well as the diversity of our international students.”²

Ongoing Monitoring

ApplyBoard’s initial vetting process is where accountability starts, but not where it ends. Once an individual or organization joins our advisor network, they’re monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure they continue to comply with ApplyBoard’s quality standards. 

How exactly does that ongoing monitoring work? We’ll break it down in our next Strengthening the Sector feature. As the international education sector evolves, defining these processes is more important than ever, for the sake of trust, transparency, and accountability. 

Stay informed about sector updates by subscribing to ApplyInsights.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of ApplyBoard unless otherwise stated.

2. While Gordon Shuster retired from Okanagan College in 2024, this quotation was sourced when the article was originally published (and he was still employed by OC) in 2023.

The post How ApplyBoard Vets and Builds Strong Relationships with International Education Advisors appeared first on ApplyBoard.

As international student mobility continues to grow worldwide, many university and college admissions teams must tackle correspondingly large numbers of student applications. Sorting and properly evaluating these applications in a timely manner is a genuine concern, both for admissions staff and for the hopeful future students.

Technological innovation can streamline this challenging work by ensuring that every application received by an institution meets or exceeds an acceptable level of quality and completion. In fact, ApplyBoard’s application pre-screening process ensures only the strongest applications are submitted to an institution. Here’s how.

Strengthening the Sector

Throughout our Strengthening the Sector series, we’re exploring the many ways that ApplyBoard supports the international education sector. Here, we’ll focus on how ApplyBoard’s pre-screening technology helps to alleviate pressure on admissions staff.

Read the other articles in this series as they’re published (we’ll update the links):

• Recruitment Partner Vetting
• Ongoing Performance Monitoring
• Sector Training
• Document Authentication

ApplyBoard’s Pre-Screening Process

To ensure every application meets study program requirements, ApplyBoard pre-screens each one before submitting them to institutions. This process is powered by AI technology and guided by our Customer Experience (CX) team. Here’s how it works:

Application Submission

Students don’t need an account to search the ApplyBoard platform for institutions and study programs. However, to create an application, they must create an account and a student profile.

Once a student’s profile is filled out, including their student ID and grades, the platform checks their overall program eligibility. The platform will then restrict the student’s search results to programs they qualify for.

ApplyBoard has a dedicated CX Journey Team to collect, evaluate, and implement program requirement information. This team liaises with admissions offices to ensure ApplyBoard’s pre-screening requirements align with the institutions’ processes.

Candidate Evaluation

Once the student has completed their application, submitted all necessary documents, and paid the application fee, ApplyBoard runs a series of automated checks to ensure the student’s information is accurate, valid, and legible:

If an issue is detected during any of these processes, ApplyBoard’s CX Journey Team receives an alert. A CX team member then checks the application manually.

If they determine the issue is minor, they can ask for more information from the applicant. For more serious issues, like if they suspect an applicant or document is not bona fide, they can cancel the application.

Our Journey Team does additional manual reviews to ensure students meet the necessary admissions requirements. 

These steps include reviewing:

• Required pre-requisite courses
• Previous study and work experience
• Any study gaps
• Previous rejection cases for similar students
• Additional documents (as required)

If a CX Journey advisor determines that an applicant doesn’t meet the admissions requirements, they can cancel the application.

If a Journey advisor cancels an application, the application immediately goes to another Journey advisor to review and confirm. If this second advisor agrees with the decision, the recruitment partner and student are notified of the reason for cancellation. They may initiate a follow-up review, if desired.

The Results

As of June 2026, 24% of all applications which have been submitted on the ApplyBoard platform weren’t passed on to institutions. By pre-screening these applications, we help to ensure that college and university admissions teams are reviewing only strong applications. This reduces application turnaround time, which can maximize acceptance rates.

Careful pre-screening benefits future students as well: Applicants who use the ApplyBoard platform consistently achieve a study program acceptance rate that exceeds institutional averages. And, where institutional and advisor partners provide us with consistent updates, the acceptance rates are even higher.

Case Study: University of Manitoba

As a U15 institution and one of Canada’s top research universities, the University of Manitoba (UM) is in high demand among international students. When Canada’s profile as an education destination skyrocketed in the late 2010s, so did international student application volumes at UM. To help keep up with the demand, UM’s leadership turned to ApplyBoard.

Recognizing that every institution’s application process is different, ApplyBoard’s Commercial Partnerships team sat down with the admissions professionals at UM to understand their unique pain points. Together, they established a set of criteria against which to evaluate UM applicants.

Today, 40% to 45% of the applications that ApplyBoard vets for UM are not submitted due to ineligibility. 

This has freed up UM’s admissions team to focus on the strongest applications, drastically reducing their acquisition cost per student. Just as important, undergraduate UM applicants now get letters of acceptance (LOAs) back in as little as one week, maximizing the chance they’ll accept.

Building Our Global Student Advisor Network

As the needs of international students evolve, so do the requirements ApplyBoard sets for working with new international education advisors and recruiters. It’s critical that we find partners who can guide future students effectively and ethically through the application process. As such, our team rigorously vets new agencies and individuals before they can work with us. We’ll explain how the vetting process works in our next Strengthening the Sector article. 

Stay informed, and join the conversation by subscribing to ApplyBoard Insights.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data courtesy of ApplyBoard unless otherwise stated.

The post How ApplyBoard Screens Every Student Application for Quality and Completion appeared first on ApplyBoard.

UK student visa applications and issuances for main applicants were at pre-pandemic levels for the first quarter of 2026.¹ This continues a trend which began late last year: our team flagged in an earlier Insights article that while full-year 2025 visa issuances grew overall, Q4 2025 hinted at change for the coming year, as visa applications dipped over 20% compared to Q4 2024.

Q1 2026 data reveals that demand for a UK student visa slowed nearly across the globe. In fact, several of the largest student populations in the UK submitted fewer visa applications on a YOY basis. Below, we’ll look at what these declines and more mean for the UK’s international education sector.

In Early 2026, Student Visa Applications to the UK Dropped to 2018 Levels

UK study visa application levels have been comparatively volatile since 2022. In 2023 and 2024, less welcoming messaging from the seated government in parallel with new restrictions on students’ dependents softened demand:

Historically, most visa applications happen later in the calendar year, but early-year data is still helpful for gauging shifts in student sentiment. With the election of a new government initially signalling a more welcoming environment to international students, and as students and advisors adjusted to that messaging, student interest rebounded in early 2025.

However, the government’s 2025 White Paper on Immigration proposed several measures with the potential to fundamentally change the sector. Top-of-mind for many prospective students was the proposed adjustment of the popular Graduate Route duration, dropping from two years for bachelor’s and master’s graduates to 18 months. This proposal was confirmed in October 2025, and likely caused some prospective students to delay their studies or consider other destinations.

50% of respondents to ApplyBoard’s Spring 2026 Recruitment Pulse Survey cited a destination’s welcomeness as a top factor for where their students decide to study. This was double the percentage from the Spring 2025 survey.

Applications Down Among Many International Student Populations

A changing policy landscape, particularly when it shifts how welcome students feel, can diminish student interest levels. Q1 data shows this in action, as only 1 of the 15 largest student populations in the UK submitted more main applicant visa applications than they did a year earlier:

This is a reversal from last year, when 8 of the top 10 international student populations had submitted more applications that quarter than they did in Q1 2024. But now, 14 of the UK’s top 15 student populations had application numbers which declined by double-digit percentages year-over-year. The largest among those were Pakistan (-74%) and Bangladesh (-60%), which is somewhat unsurprising after seeing several universities tighten admission rules—or suspend recruitment altogether—for both these countries.

Among this group, students from India submitted the most applications, sending in nearly 14,000 in Q1 2026. However, that total was down by 24% year-over-year for the quarter. Nigeria, Nepal, Pakistan, and China rounded out the top five.

How Student Visa Issuances Changed in Q1 2026

Overall issuances of main applicant student visas also dropped significantly in Q1 2026, returning to a level just above 2019’s:

33,000 international students were issued a student visa in Q1 2026, representing a decline of 31% from Q1 2025. The issuance rate in the last quarter was 87%, compared to 88% in Q1 2025.² However, looking at the number of issued and rejected study visas no longer reveals as much of the full picture as it once did.

Student Visa Withdrawals Hit 20-Year High

In last year’s article on Q1 visa data, we highlighted that the number of UK student visa withdrawals had climbed significantly from 2023 levels. While withdrawal cases have historically been in the low hundreds over the first quarter of the year, application withdrawals climbed to 3,200 in Q1 2024. In Q1 2025, the number of withdrawals contracted, but this reversal didn’t last. Student visa withdrawals climbed to 6,700 in Q1 2026—more than double the previous peak.

More student visas were withdrawn than rejected in Q1 2026 (total rejections were just over 5,100), which is the first time this has happened in Q1 in at least 20 years. Even in 2024, 5,000 visa applications were rejected, and 3,200 were withdrawn.

Withdrawals were also concentrated among a smaller group of countries. Prospective students from Pakistan shouldered 43% of all withdrawals. Additionally, only eight student populations withdrew over 50 applications:

Pakistani students were also among the most affected by the UK government’s processing delays for the January 2026 intake.³ These delays were largely driven by attempts to clear an application backlog and run additional checks on students from populations considered more likely to stay in the UK beyond their allotted time or claim asylum.⁴ While the government encouraged UK institutions to extend their last day of acceptance for students still waiting on a visa decision, some institutions reported that as many as 50% of their students’ visa decisions were outstanding as admission deadlines neared.

UK institutions are now held to a target visa success rate of 95% under the new Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) threshold, which makes every application more high-stakes.⁵ If an institution’s visa success rate falls below 95%, they’re subject to consequences ranging from being placed on a government-guided “action plan” to the loss of their sponsor license allowing them to host international students.

With institutions under this additional pressure, as Jim Dickinson observes in Wonkhe, some may have taken anticipatory action as their prospective students faced visa delays:

…[The Home Office] sets a threshold, and risk-averse institutions retreat from high-refusal markets pre-emptively to protect their [BCA] rating, pausing recruitment, raising deposits, and bringing forward deadlines.
—Jim Dickinson, May 2026.⁶

How UK Study Visa Issuances Changed Among Student Populations in Q1 2026

In Q1 2026, Indian students received the most UK student visas. However, the 14,500 visas they were granted represents a 25% drop from Q1 2025 levels. Most other major student populations also saw fewer visa issuances year-over-year. Among the 10 largest incoming student populations, the United States was the only outlier. Incoming American students were granted 46% more student visas in Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025:

While the grant (or issuance) rate for 4 of the 10 largest student populations improved for this quarter compared to the same period in 2025, issuances remained widely depressed due to processing backlogs and other delays. It is encouraging, that said, that the grant rates for Nepalese students improved significantly YOY, after dipping in Q1 2025. Even though the total number of student visas granted to Nepalese students decreased, the higher grant rate suggests this newest cohort are more prepared overall for the application process.

On the other hand, applications from Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka all faced higher levels of scrutiny in H2 of 2025. So, it’s not surprising to see their grant rates falling more dramatically than other major student populations in early 2026. Nigeria’s grant rate dropped by 19 percentage points YOY, followed closely by Pakistan and Sri Lanka (both dropping by 15 percentage points YOY).

Building Toward Strategic Student Recruitment in 2027

Adapting to significant shifts like these takes both time and thoughtful collaboration across smaller teams and the broader sector. It’s easy (and very human) to feel frustrated by the changes, especially for folks who work directly with students. As administrators, advisors, and admissions teams alike, every contributor in the international education space can exert influence in their spheres to show that these students make our communities more creative and resilient, and in turn ensure each student is effectively prepared for studying in the UK.

Ultimately, adapting to a sector transformed by the updated BCA thresholds requires carefully tuned student recruitment strategies. And, access to the ApplyBoard platform can help institutions to access new student populations, support their compliance obligations, and ensure students are academically prepared and committed to completing their studies.

Moreover, operating in an environment of softened demand depends on continuous visibility into changing global preferences. ApplyBoard’s platform provides UK academic institutions access to real-time student search data that provides leading indicators of prospective student sentiment shifts around factors like course choice and study level. To refine your outreach strategy, we encourage you to connect with our Commercial Partnerships Team.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. All data is courtesy of the UK Home Office, unless noted otherwise.

2. Issuance rate is calculated by dividing the number of issued visas by the combined number of issued and refused visas. Lapsed and withdrawn visas are not included in the issuance rate calculation.

3. The PIE, “‘Unavoidable’ Home Office delays disrupt January intake.” February 5, 2026.

4. The PIE, “Rumoured UK visa crackdown to target Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.” May 6, 2025.

5. The previous threshold was 90%.

6. Wonkhe, “The international student boom is over – and the bust is being delivered by stealth.” May 21, 2026.

The post Early 2026 Visa Data Reveals How Much Demand has Softened for Studying in the UK appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Since 2024, the “Big Four” anglophone destination countries have been implementing policies that intend to curb international student numbers to levels those countries deem sustainable. Canada issued just 84,000 new post-secondary student visas in 2025, a year-over-year decline of 65%, and we’ve projected that the US saw a 31% decline over the same period, with about 270,000 F-1 student visas granted last year.¹ Meanwhile, the UK granted 410,000 main applicant student visas in 2025, but this 3% year-over-year growth masks that applications declined 21% in Q4 2025, with that decline accelerating to 33% during the first four months of 2026.²

By comparison, Australia’s evolving regulatory requirements have resulted in a much more gradual shift in student populations. Australia granted 190,000 student visas to offshore, primary applicants for tertiary education in calendar year 2025.³ This was 12% below the previous calendar year. Similarly, the 38,000 student visas granted in Q1 of calendar year 2026 represented a decline of just 8% compared to Q1 of 2025. While these declines are not without challenges for Australian institutions and the students who want to study there, Australia nonetheless has avoided the demand freefall that has hit its competitors.

Against this backdrop, we’re diving into data from Australia’s 2025/26 fiscal year.⁴ Discover how many student visas we forecast Australia granting this fiscal year, what that means for the sector’s various study levels, and how demand has changed among student populations around the world.

Australia Expected To Grant 193,000 Student Visas for 2025/26

In our analysis of the 2024/25 fiscal year, we wrote that early signs indicated that Ministerial Direction 111 (MD111) was functioning as intended in normalizing visa volumes to pre-pandemic levels. The number of student visas granted in the 2024/25 fiscal year was down 12% year-over-year, returning to 2017/18 levels in the process.

For the 2025/26 fiscal year, we’re projecting that Australia will grant a similar number of student visas as it did a decade ago:

Australia granted 151,000 student visas to primary, offshore students from July through April of the 2025/26 fiscal year. This was 8% below the same period of the previous fiscal year. Extrapolated over the full fiscal year, we expect about 193,000 student visas will be granted to offshore students for 2025/26, a figure between 2015/16 and 2016/17 levels.

While Australia has brought its number of student visas down at a much more measured pace than its other major Anglophone counterparts, the process continues to be a delicate balancing act. 50% of respondents to ApplyBoard’s Spring 2026 Student Advisor Pulse Survey indicated that a destination’s welcomeness to international students was a top factor when considering where to study. And some experts are warning that the steady stream of regulatory updates risks Australia losing ground on this key factor.

“The perception taking hold offshore is that Australia is an unpredictable, expensive and increasingly unwelcoming destination.”
— Neil Fitzroy, May 22, 2026.⁵

Nearly 3 of every 4 Student Visas Granted For Higher Education

Historically, the higher ed study level typically accounted for about 55% to 60% of student visas granted to offshore, primary applicants. Under Australia’s recent policy changes, the proportion of granted visas for this study level has grown:

We’re projecting about 139,000 student visas will be granted to primary, offshore higher ed applicants over the full 2025/26 fiscal year. While this total would be about 9% less than the previous fiscal year, it would also represent nearly three in every four student visas granted—a similar proportion as in 2024/25.

Meanwhile, the postgraduate level has seen an influx of demand in 2025/26. We’re projecting that about 5,900 primary, offshore applicants will be granted a student visa in 2025/26, which would be an increase of 9% over 2024/25. We expect 3% of granted student visas in 2025/26 will be for the postgraduate level, up half a percentage point year-over-year.

Visa grant rates have contributed to this proportional shift. During the first 10 months of the 2025/26 fiscal year, only 42% of Vocational Education and Training (VET) applicants were granted a student visa. If this rate holds for the full fiscal year, it would be an all-time low. Likewise, while the 78% grant rate for English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) applicants is in line with the previous two fiscal years, it’s much lower than historical rates.

How Has Demand Changed Among Australia’s Top 50 Student Populations?

New policies and declining grant rates are contributing to changes in demand among Australia’s top student populations. The table below shows visa trends for the top 50 student populations during the first 10 months of the 2025/26 fiscal year:

Chinese and Indian students continue to be Australia’s top two student populations. Nearly 43,000 Chinese students were granted a student visa during the first 10 months of 2025/26, more than double the 20,000 granted to Indian students. These figures represent declines of 21% and 16%, respectively, over the same period in 2024/25. Their story differs in grant rate, as the 95% approval rate for Chinese students was 2 percentage points higher year-over-year, whereas the 64% for Indian students was 15 percentage points lower.

Demand has grown across several key student populations in South Asia and Africa. In South Asia, over 10,000 Nepalese students and 8,300 Bangladeshi applicants were granted a student visa from July to April of 2025/26, an increase of 36% and 18% year-over-year, respectively. However, grant rates for both student populations fell significantly over this period, dropping by 34 and 24 percentage points, respectively.

The number of student visas granted to Kenyan and Nigerian students rose 163% and 148%, respectively, over this period.

 
Last year we flagged that increased visa fees, higher financial requirements, and other regulatory updates were impacting students from Latin America and other regions of the world that traditionally favour shorter study options. This trend continued in 2025/26. The 2,900 student visas granted to Brazilian applicants—Australia’s 11th largest student population—during the first 10 months of 2025/26 represent a 15% decline over the same period of the previous fiscal year. It was also 71% below the same period of the 2022/23 fiscal year. Likewise, demand among Colombian students has collapsed. In 2022/23, nearly 21,000 Colombian applicants were granted a student visa between July and April. But over the same period in 2025/26, only 1,100 applicants were granted a student visa, a staggering 95% decline.

Leveraging Data and Technology to Ensure Australia Continues to Remain a Top Study Destination

While Australia has successfully navigated a more gradual deceleration of international student visa numbers than its major competitors, maintaining this steady approach requires thoughtful policy design and student outreach. Campus stability relies heavily on predictable recruitment environments, yet frequent regulatory adjustments can quickly alter international perceptions. As visa grant rates shift, institutions must quickly pivot to identify high-intent applicants who match the updated criteria. As part of an institution, navigating these regulatory updates successfully depends on access to early market signals that reveal changing demand before applications are ever built.

To meet this need, the ApplyBoard platform leverages predictive technology and deep search insights to help Australian institutions identify and connect with top talent worldwide. By analyzing real-time student preferences and changing regional patterns, recruitment teams can proactively align their international outreach to match the right students with the right programs. This data-driven approach allows universities to optimize their resources and provide targeted application support to prospective learners early in their journey.

Connect with our Commercial Partnerships Team to learn how these data insights can strengthen your institutional recruitment strategy.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. Canadian study permit data is sourced from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). US student visa data is sourced from the U.S. Department of State. Note that US calendar year data is updated only to September 2025; our forecast for the US combines the January–September actual data with historical October–December trends.

2. UK visa data is sourced from the UK Home Office.

3. Australian student visa data is sourced from the Department of Home Affairs. Tertiary studies omits student visas granted for the schools and foreign affairs sectors. All uses of Australian data in this article are for primary, offshore students only.

4. Australia reports its visa data by fiscal year, July to June. We analyze this data by calendar year when comparing against other destinations, and by fiscal year when looking at only the Australian sector.

5. The PIE, Alphabetti spaghetti and Australia’s international education policy problem. May 22, 2026.

The post Australia On Pace To Grant 8% Fewer International Student Visas For 2025/26 appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Leading indicators are essential tools for navigating the dynamic landscape of international education. In addition to leveraging historical visa data, forward-thinking recruitment teams use search trends and sentiment analysis to understand where prospective students want to study. This real-time visibility is especially critical as evolving political rhetoric reshapes the global appeal of major anglophone destinations. In the United States, these shifting dynamics have contributed to an environment of softened demand.

However, while overall demand may have fallen, targeted opportunities remain strong for institutions willing to adapt. Today, we’ll look at external search query trends, student sentiment surveys, and ApplyBoard’s proprietary platform data to better understand prospective students’ evolving preferences. By considering these factors, American institutions can align their outreach with the current interests of diverse student populations and support students effectively as they begin their studies in the US.

Most Major Anglophone Destinations Facing Demand Issues in 2026

Heading into 2026, international student demand has softened nearly across the board for major anglophone destinations:

We project that the US granted around 270,000 F-1 student visas in the calendar year 2025.² This would represent a year-over-year decline of 31%, and would be 39% below the post-pandemic peak in 2023. Calendar year data has not been updated past September 2025, hence why these figures are only a projection.³

But the US is not alone in seeing lower levels of demand from future international students. New student visa issuances were down 65% and 12% year-over-year in Canada and Australia, respectively, in 2025. Meanwhile, the UK’s stability over the full-year masks concerning application declines across Q4 2025 as well as the early months of 2026.⁴

Shifting political rhetoric and policies have contributed to declining demand in all four destinations. The US’ strong academic and research history, as well as its highly attractive STEM OPT offerings, have likely helped mitigate greater potential losses to date. Still, with the global number of international students expected to reach 9 million—up from 7.3 million in 2024—by the end of the decade, American institutions will require strategic outreach efforts to continue attracting top talent from around the world.

Search Trends and Surveys Reflect International Student Uncertainty About the US in 2026

Search trends are one of the most powerful leading indicators available to our sector for determining what and where prospective students want to study. Google’s search analysis tools show that the popularity of the US has been declining since early 2025:

We’ve used these tools to calculate the popularity score, which compares the proportion of “Study in x” searches for the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. The US accounted for just 12% of these search results in April 2025, down by a third from where it was throughout most of 2024.

Google search trends show increased popularity for European destinations like the UK and Germany since the start of 2025.

 
Still, the US’ declining popularity within the Google search trends is corroborated with trends elsewhere, such as in ApplyBoard’s Spring 2026 Student Pulse Survey:

The survey found that 45% of students indicated they were “extremely” interested in studying in the US. This high enthusiasm secured the US’s position as the second most popular destination overall, though this response also marked a drop of 13 percentage points among respondents compared to the prior year’s survey. The Spring 2026 survey also revealed a growing hesitation among potential students, with the share of respondents showing zero interest in the US growing from 8% to 16% year-over-year.

Our survey also asked students how government and policy updates have influenced their study abroad plans, and 21% stated their interest in the US fell specifically because of these factors. This was a significant jump from just 8% the year before.

Leveraging leading indicators like search trends and survey results gives institutions insight into how prospective student demand is changing. Rather than waiting for application numbers to roll in or for the US government to release up-to-date visa data, these tools and data points can empower decision makers to strategize and respond to real-time shifts in student sentiment.

Health Sciences Capturing Larger Share of Searches on the ApplyBoard Platform

ApplyBoard’s proprietary search data is another leading indicator of prospective students’ preference changes. Since its inception, the ApplyBoard platform has helped over 1.5 million students during their international study journey. For many, the first step towards becoming an international student is the search bar, and our team is proud to empower students’ connection with programs and destinations which suit their academic goals.

Our internal data shows how interest in different broad fields of study has shifted over time. One notable trend is that the popularity of health programs has steadily risen among students considering the US:

In 2026 (January through May), 15% of all searches for programs in the US on the ApplyBoard platform were for health programs. This was an increase of five percentage points from full-year 2023.

This uptick in interest coincides with rising demand for healthcare workers in the US. Over the next decade, the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projects that the US will face a shortage of 110,000 registered nurses and another 246,000 licensed practical nurses (all full-time equivalents). Additionally, as soon as 2030, 43 of the US’s 50 states are expected to see significant worker shortages in health care settings.

The graphic below allows you to see how study preferences changed among some of the US’s largest student populations from 2023 to 2026 (January through May):

Students from African countries tend to have proportionally higher interest in health programs than those from other regions. Health programs accounted for 20% or more of searches from Nigerian, Ghanaian, and Kenyan students during the first five months of 2026. The field’s share of searches grew by at least five percentage points among each of these student populations compared to 2023.

Meanwhile, engineering and technology programs continue to be popular among students from South Asia. These programs captured at least 20% of searches by students from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan in 2026 (January through May). However, the relative popularity of these programs was either the same or lower than it was in 2023, with health programs seeing a higher proportional share of searches among these students so far this year.

Leveraging Data and Leading Indicators for Strategic Planning in 2026

Recognizing which student populations are drawn to specific fields allows institutions to refine their international outreach strategy. American healthcare shortages present a clear opportunity to align program marketing with practical workforce needs. Focusing on these high-need areas is one way that institutions can suggest compelling career trajectories for prospective students.

However, providing these trajectories in an environment of softened demand also requires deep awareness of global trends and intentional student support. The ApplyBoard platform equips American academic institutions with the proprietary search data needed to match incoming student populations with the right programs for their dynamic study preferences. By leveraging real-time insights, recruitment teams can guide students toward fields that align with both their ambitions and the realities of the global workforce.

Connecting applicants with these tangible outcomes is essential for building resilient, diverse campuses. Connect with our Commercial Partnerships Team to discuss how leading indicators can strengthen your recruitment strategy. Together, we can help international students navigate this shifted landscape and successfully begin their studies in the US.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. Here, Google search results compared the proportion of “Study in x” searches, with results calculated for the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany.

2. All US student visa data used in this report is sourced from the U.S. Department of State.

3. Our forecast combines the January–September actual data with historical October–December trends.

4. Data courtesy of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Australian Department of Home Affairs (ADHA), and the UK Home Office.

The post How Has International Student Demand Softened for the US in 2026? appeared first on ApplyBoard.

The process of becoming an international student is always a balancing act. Students, and the advisors who support them, weigh program availability, affordability, graduate outcomes, destination culture, and more when deciding where to study. To better understand which factors are pivotal to the current cohort of international students, and how students perceive top study destinations, the ApplyBoard team sent out the eighth edition of our Student Pulse Survey earlier this spring.

Over the Spring 2026 survey period, nearly 300 future students shared their insights on everything from how affordability was affecting their study abroad plans to which destinations were top-of-mind.¹ We’re grateful to all the students who responded—if you participated, thank you!

Below, we’ll explore what the survey results indicated about popular post-study plans, current interest levels in different programs, student perceptions of top destinations, and more.

Growing Interest in Undergraduate Programs

In the Spring 2026 Student Pulse Survey results, 40% of respondents expressed interest in undergraduate degree programs.³ That’s an increase of almost 15 percentage points over the results from each of the previous three surveys:⁴

It’s possible that the survey cohort this round is at an earlier stage in their academic journey, but this change remains a notable shift in interest toward undergraduate degrees, and is one our team will monitor when this survey repeats in the fall.

Meanwhile, for the second consecutive Student Pulse Survey, interest in postgraduate programs declined. Among the surveyed students, interest in pursuing a master’s degree dropped by 11 percentage points compared to Spring 2025 levels. The proportion of students interested in postgraduate certificates or diplomas also dipped—by six percentage points—and interest in doctoral programs was eight percentage points lower than it was in last spring’s survey results.

While there’s no single reason for this shift, it may reflect how viable the next cohort of potential students think pursuing postgraduate study abroad will be. Over the past few years, several of the top study destinations have made pursuing this level of study more challenging, whether by limiting which students are eligible to bring dependents (older postgraduate students are more likely to have partners or children), shifting the parameters of post-study work opportunities, or proposing limits to overall student visa duration.

Canada Remains a Top Study Destination Among Surveyed Students

We also asked students to share how interested they were in a range of popular study destinations. This spring, Canada kept its position at the top of students’ lists:

While government policies and other factors continue to affect student mobility, it’s encouraging to see that student interest levels in Canada remain high. 81% of respondents expressed they were either “very” or “extremely” interested in studying in Canada, up from 77% in the Spring 2025 survey. This improvement suggests that, at least among this cohort, the negative impacts on Canada’s international education brand may be softening.

The US captured the next highest level of extremely interested students (45%). However, this proportion was down by 13 percentage points compared to our survey findings from a year ago. The proportion of students who were “not at all” interested in the US also doubled (from 8% to 16%) over the same timeframe. This shift in sentiment extended to a separate question, where we asked students how their interest in studying abroad in different countries was affected by government or policy changes. The percentage of students who noted their interest in the US had “greatly decreased” due to these factors was 21%,⁵ rising from 8% a year ago.

Looking across the pond, the UK received the second-highest amount of strong interest from our survey respondents.⁶ In fact, student interest in both the UK and Ireland strengthened compared to the previous survey results. Strong interest in Ireland allowed the destination to jump from sixth place to fourth in Spring 2026 among ApplyBoard’s study destinations, up nine percentage points compared to Fall 2025 results.

Interest in Study Destinations Diversified in Early 2026

When we asked where future students wanted to study, fewer were focused on established destinations than in either of our 2025 Student Pulse Surveys. In fact, for the first time in four survey iterations, under 60% of respondents were solely interested in studying in one or more of the following destinations: Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the UK, and the US. The 58% of students solely focused on the destinations listed above dropped by seven percentage points from our Spring 2025 survey results.

When we asked where else students were thinking of studying, our team also found that interest levels were more evenly divided between destinations, versus being focused on a handful of popular emerging options, which had been the case in past Student Pulse Surveys. In the Spring 2026 Pulse Survey, students shared 58 different destinations they were interested in, and no single destination was mentioned by more than 6% of respondents:

This spring, Italy and the Netherlands captured the most interest from prospective students. The high levels of interest in these destinations mirrored the results from our survey of student advisors earlier this spring. Unlike the advisor survey results for this question, which were more Eurocentric,⁷ students cited more African and Asian study destinations in their write-in answers.

Students Gravitating Toward Programs with Clearer Ties to Industry Needs

Business programs remained the most popular subject among future international students, and were included in 34% of students’ responses. However, these programs’ lead has shrunk compared to previous surveys:

This spring, interest in a number of fields other than business expanded. 26% of respondents shared they were interested in math, computer science, and IT programs, rising nearly three percentage points compared to the Fall 2025 survey. Math and IT remained the second-most popular field of study among respondents, and started to catch up to business’ lead.

Social sciences programs, fine arts programs, engineering programs, and health programs all captured more interest, each rising by 3 percentage points versus the previous survey. There’s a lot of diversity among these fields, but something they have in common is that several of the disciplines within them are more resilient in the face of automation. As this newest generation of students comes of age in an era with widespread corporate layoffs and massive investment in artificial intelligence, they’re witnessing how this workplace shift disproportionately decreases the number of entry-level positions.⁸ As such, it’s likely some future students are shifting their focus to fields where they can more feasibly build a career after graduation.

Over the last few decades, institutions have built more work-integrated learning opportunities into post-secondary programs. Learn more about how work-integrated learning is supporting Canada’s evolving labour market.

Build Your International Student Strategy with ApplyBoard

The Student Pulse Survey lets us see what future international students are thinking, and where they see opportunity and challenge alike on their horizon. If you’re looking for more in-depth sector analysis, check out the 2026 ApplyBoard Trends Report, and stay tuned for its next edition in November. Every year, we take a look at how our sector is evolving, and share strategies to help your team prepare for a constantly shifting landscape.

If you’re part of an institution which is interested in developing your international recruitment strategy, ApplyBoard’s sector insights, real-time dashboards, and global partner network can help you reach diverse student audiences. Ready to get started? Contact our Commercial Partnerships team today.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The Spring 2026 ApplyBoard Student Pulse Survey ran between April 22 and May 6, 2026. It received 279 responses from 56 different international student populations.

2. Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

3. Students could select one or more study levels they’re interested in pursuing in their answer to this question. This is why the percentages don’t add up to 100.

4. 24% of respondents noted they were interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree in the Fall 2025 Student Pulse Survey. In the Spring 2025 and Fall 2024 surveys, that percentage was 25%.

5. This also represented the largest proportion of students disinterested in any of the Big Four destinations: in the Spring 2026 Student Pulse Survey, only 6% of respondents were disinterested in the UK, 5% in Canada, and just 3% had no interest in Australia.

6. Here, “strong interest” captures students who were either “very” or “extremely” interested in the destination.

7. 8 of the 10 most popular destinations cited in the Spring 2026 Recruitment Pulse Survey were European.

8. Forbes, “AI and the Vanishing Entry-Level Job: The Changing Future of Work.” August 15, 2025.

The post International Student Interest in Undergraduate Programs and Diverse Study Destinations Climbs, Per Survey appeared first on ApplyBoard.

Several metrics show that student demand for an international education is stronger than ever: some recent projections suggest that by 2030, as many as 9 million international students will be enrolled worldwide.¹ Studying abroad is a life-changing experience, both for individual students and the campuses they’re part of.

Earlier this spring, the ApplyBoard team surveyed our global network of international student advisors. We heard from over 450 advisors, who were supporting students from 45 nationalities, on everything from which destinations their students preferred to how student motivations were evolving. They also shared how shifts in popular study destinations were affecting students’ decision-making processes. Before we dive into the analysis, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the ApplyBoard Pulse Survey. Your insights help us better understand our sector and support the next generation of learners.

To illustrate how student choices have changed, we’ve presented the most recent survey data along with surveys from 2023 through 2025.

Proportion of Advisors Reporting Uptick in Student Interest Climbs

This spring, we asked international student advisors to answer 11 questions about the trends they’ve observed among the students they support.³ For the first time since Fall 2023, over 50% of respondents shared they were working with more students than in the previous quarter:

A full quarter of respondents reported they were working with a significantly larger number of students this quarter versus the previous one. This was ten percentage points higher than the proportion of respondents who answered this way in Spring 2024.

It’s encouraging to see the trend of strengthening demand continue year-over-year. Hearing from our advisors that they’re working with more students also grounds the projections of a global student body which is expected to grow through 2030; now, these estimates start to feel more real. The growing numbers also speak to international students’ resilience and determination. Despite the challenges that come with studying in a foreign country and added economic and geopolitical uncertainty, millions of young learners remain motivated to gain a world-class education.

Student Advisors Perceive the UK as the Most Welcoming and Attractive Study Destination

When gauging which destination future students find most attractive, it was almost a photo finish between the UK and Canada this spring:

The difference in opinion came down to a third of a percentage point: 83.6% of respondents found the UK was an attractive study destination to Canada’s 83.3%. And, where sentiment around the UK has remained relatively stable over the last three surveys, Canada’s attractiveness improved by 12 percentage points versus spring 2025. This is a hopeful sign for Canadian institutions that, as they prepare for 2026 and 2027 intakes, more international students are seriously considering Canada.

Future students’ level of interest in Australia remained fairly constant, tipping up three percentage points from 66% attractiveness in Fall 2025 to 69%. However, it rose to the third spot in part due to students’ shifting sentiment about the US. In the previous Pulse Survey, 67% of respondents said their students thought the US was an attractive destination, but this spring, that percentage dropped to 56%. And, while a higher proportion of students still found the US a very attractive destination (24%) versus Germany (20%), because more students generally thought Germany was an attractive option, it also climbed past the US to rank fourth.

Return on Investment Perceived as Strongest Among Australian Grads

When gauging graduate engagement and return on academic investment, Australia received the highest marks among Pulse Survey respondents this spring:

55% of respondents strongly agreed that international students in Australia were likely to find good jobs and become successful after graduation. That’s 12 percentage points higher than the next destination (Canada, at 43%).

Student advisors are least confident in international graduates’ outcomes from Irish institutions when strongly agreeing (29%). However, a further 45% just agreed, which means that the total proportion of respondents who agreed international graduates from Irish institutions were successful was 74%. This is actually higher than the proportion who agreed with this statement for UK-based international grads (69%).

Nearly worldwide, youth unemployment is in the news, whether in regards to reductions in entry-level roles or heightened competition for graduate-level jobs. While academic institutions can’t change the headlines, they can illustrate how their institution builds the practical and interpersonal skills students need to get the job and thrive in the workplace itself. Effective strategies vary by institution, but highlighting outcomes from work-integrated learning opportunities or sharing relatable examples of alumni success can help to address students’ and advisors’ uncertainty.

All Destinations Seen as More Welcoming of Students in Spring 2026

Overall, in the most recent Pulse Survey, a higher proportion of advisors shared that the study destinations in our survey were perceived as open, safe, and welcoming to students than in Fall 2025:

While the UK remained the most welcoming destination, positive perception of Canada also climbed to just 0.3 percentage points lower than the UK’s approval score of 87.6%.⁴ Compared to last fall, not only were all six study destinations perceived as more welcoming this spring, but the variance between the top five destinations also shrunk.

At the other end of the scale, respondents’ perception of their students’ safety in the United States remained well below 2023 and 2024 levels. Factors including ongoing immigration policy changes, the US’ involvement in geopolitical conflicts, and higher levels of polarized rhetoric all likely contribute to this changing perception. In a separate question, 36% of respondents noted that government and policy changes had prompted much less interest in the US among their students, nearly twenty percentage points higher than the next destination (Canada, at 17%).

Affordability, Career Growth, and Safety Drive Student Destination Choices

While safety and welcomeness are intangible concepts, they have tangible effects on future students’ decisions. Half of respondents shared that feeling welcome in a study destination ranked among their students’ top five priorities when choosing where to study:

This change is remarkable, as the proportion of respondents who selected it among their top five choices has doubled year-over-year.

However, the overall cost of studying remained most likely to influence students’ study destination choice. Over 90% of respondents noted it was highly likely to shape where their students were applying to. The other top reasons also tied in to affordability, both directly (cost of living) and indirectly (the ability to work while studying, or pursue full-time work after graduation). Respondents reinforced this finding throughout the survey, including when we asked about where future students were hoping to go.

European Destinations Remain Top-of-Mind for Future Students

ApplyBoard is proud to support students headed to Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And, by levels of student inflows, these are some of the world’s most popular study destinations. However, it’s also important to understand the breadth of options students are considering.

When we asked respondents where else their students were thinking of studying, they shared over 50 destinations:

New Zealand was the most popular emerging study destination for the second consecutive survey, and was included in 28% of all responses. It received a similar proportion of votes in the previous survey. New Zealand’s international student community is smaller compared to the Big Four anglophone destinations. Nation-wide, international enrolments in tertiary education grew to just under 60,000 students in 2025,⁵ slightly less than the international student population in the American state of Illinois.⁶ However, since the pandemic-era lows in 2020 and 2021, this cohort in New Zealand has grown steadily. In 2025, international enrolments in tertiary studies went up 15% year-over-year, but has not yet exceeded pre-COVID totals. Still, the growing yearly count and the strong level of interest in New Zealand in our survey suggests that this study destination’s international student cohort is likely to recover fully by next year.

Meanwhile, France was the second-most commonly cited emerging destination with 24% of responses, and Spain climbed from fifth place in Fall 2025 to take the third position. Spain was cited by 20% of respondents (up 3 percentage points versus Fall 2025). European destinations composed 8 of the 10 most popular alternative destinations, a similar proportion to previous surveys. Further, 15% of respondents included some variant on Europe as a region, or the more specific Schengen Area, in their answer.

Finland and Italy tied as the fourth most popular emerging destination, both capturing 19% of responses. However, compared to the previous Pulse Survey, the interest levels in these destinations had different momentum. Interest in Finland remained steady, but the proportional interest in Italy jumped by seven percentage points versus Fall 2025. International enrolments are rising in Italy every year, supported by measures like a growing number of university-level programmes taught in English (this measure is also true of France, and may help to explain the steady, high levels of interest in both countries).⁷ Italy’s growing number of highly ranked academic institutions, the country’s strong cultural cachet, and social visibility among students thanks to the recent Winter Olympics may be further contributing factors.

Japan (appearing in 9% of responses) was the most popular among Asian study destinations. It was also the tenth most popular option overall. The proportion of respondents whose students were considering Japan also grew by three percentage points versus the Fall 2025 survey. This growing interest aligns with an international student population which is also growing quickly: July 2025 statistics from the Japanese Immigration Services Agency note that the number of people with a student residence status grew by just over 33,000 year-over-year to 435,000.⁸

Building Institutional Strategy with ApplyBoard

Thanks to the feedback from international recruitment advisors worldwide, the ApplyBoard Pulse Survey is a vital check-in on our sector. It offers helpful insights into how future students are making key decisions, and what advisors across the sector are hearing.

If you’re part of an institution that wants to level up its international recruitment strategy, we can help drive your success. Whether you’re looking for data-driven insights from our platform, or to connect with advisors at engaging webinars or our signature TRW event, ApplyBoard is constantly developing opportunities for institutions to respond to student needs.

To connect with our market insights, real-time platform data, and global partnership network, reach out to our Commercial Partnerships team.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. ICEF Monitor, “The four key trends that will shape international student mobility for the next decade.” Sept. 17, 2025.

2. Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

3. The Spring 2026 ApplyBoard Pulse Survey ran between April 8 and April 22, 2026. It received 447 responses from international student advisors in 45 markets.

4. Here, approval score refers to survey participants who agreed or strongly agreed that the country in question was open, safe, and welcoming to international students.

5. Education Counts, New Zealand Government, “Tertiary participation: provider-based enrolments – 2025.” Updated March 2026.

6. IIE, Open Doors – “Fast Facts 2025.” November 17, 2025.

7. ICEF Monitor, “Italy rises as a study destination but struggles to retain foreign graduates.” Jan. 28, 2026.

8. Immigration Services Agency, “Number of foreign residents as of the end of June 2025.”  Accessed May 5, 2026.

The post Early 2026 Survey Finds the UK Remains the Preferred Destination Among Future International Students appeared first on ApplyBoard.

As our team reported earlier this month, the number of new Canadian study permits approved for post-secondary students fell 64% in 2025. What that headline number did not show was the uneven shape of the year, and the uneven study permit¹ approval rates across different study levels and fields of study. For example, when we look at full-year 2025 data, new post-secondary study permit approval rates ranged from under 11% for vocational students to nearly 79% for doctorate programs.²

Post-Secondary Study Permit Approval Rates Varied Considerably in 2025

The approval rate for post-secondary study permits in 2025 did not follow a linear trajectory. That said, the rising approval rates through the first half of the year looks similar to how approval rates evolved through early 2023, albeit at a much lower average approval rate:

In 2025, new study permit approval rates began the year at just 22%, climbed steadily through the spring and early summer, spiked at 56% in August, and then averaged in the low 30s from September through December. Ultimately, the full-year 2025 visa approval rate for new post-secondary applicants was 36%. This is considerably lower than the full-year approval rate in 2024, which was 45%, and over twenty percentage points lower than 2023’s study permit approval rate for this cohort (58%).

The H1 2025 lift in approval rates reversed in the fall and winter, and ended up looking similar to Q4 2024 averages. This dip in approval rates late in the year is important, as the first eight months of 2025 suggested a return to higher approval rates that the full year didn’t deliver. That said, post-secondary study permit approval rates in December 2025 were five percentage points higher than they were in December 2024, and this improvement has continued into 2026. For example, January 2026’s study permit approval rate was 32%, compared to 22% in January 2024, marking a strong positive change of 10 percentage points year-over-year.

If we treat the approval rate spike in August 2025 as an anomaly, the delta between July and September 2025’s study permit approval rates is only 10 percentage points. This difference fits between the July-August dip in 2023 (a 6 percentage point drop) and the August-September dip in 2024 (down 13 percentage points). This suggests that the study permit approval rate may continue to stabilize, versus the downward trajectory we saw in 2024. Forward-looking academic institutions can use this stabilization as a foundation to build more targeted 2026 recruitment strategies.

Program Level Was a Defining Divider

The variance among study permit approval rates by level of study widened sharply in 2025. Approval rates for new Canadian study permits at the post-secondary level ranged from 11% for students applying to vocational programs to 52% for university undergraduate programs in 2025. College (27%) and postgraduate university programs (47%) approval rates landed in the middle of this range.³

These evolving study permit approval rates also influenced the overall proportion of study permit approvals issued to students enrolled in different post-secondary study levels:

The composition of the post-secondary study permit approval pool shifted materially between 2022 and 2025. Degree-granting programs saw their proportion of study permit approvals improve over 2024, where the proportion of approvals to students entering college and vocational programs shrank year-over-year. From 2022 through 2023, students entering college programs accounted for roughly two out of every three new post-secondary visa approvals. By 2025, applicants to college, university – undergraduate, and university – postgraduate programs each held between one-quarter and one-third of the visa approvals.

This rebalancing highlights a clear signal—Canada’s international student cap and the federal focus on programs tied to long-term economic contribution have contributed to the assessment of program fit during the study permit application process. In many cases, student visa applications with a clearer path to graduate study, or recognized long-term labour market outcomes were approved more consistently. Meanwhile, study permit applications to shorter post-secondary programs were approved less often.

Proportion of Study Permit Approvals to Business Students Dipped in 2025

The proportion of study permit approvals received by applicants to different fields of study also changed notably in 2025:

The proportion of visa approvals to Business, Management, and Economics applicants declined the most in 2025. After holding between 46% and 48% of post-secondary approvals from 2022 to 2024, Business study permit applicants received only 27% of approvals in 2025, and had an overall study permit approval rate of 31%. The compression was concentrated in the Business Management and the Marketing and Business Commerce sub-fields, which are the largest sub-fields in this field of study.

Engineering and Technology strengthened as the rest of the pool contracted. Engineering held roughly a quarter of approvals through 2022, 2023, and 2024, then rose to 29% in 2025. However, its gain didn’t come from volume expansion. Visa approval rates fell across most fields in 2025, but Engineering and Technology fell less steeply, from 44% in 2024 to 36% in 2025, so its share of the smaller pool of approvals grew accordingly. Computing and IT, Applied Sciences, and Architecture were the sub-fields within Engineering and Technology that held their weight most durably.

Meanwhile, the Arts, Humanities, and Social Science field roughly doubled their share of visa approvals. The Arts bucket moved from 10% of approvals in 2024 to 20% in 2025. As with engineering and technology, this is indicative of these fields’ study permit approval rate resilience. The total number of post-secondary student visa approvals fell sharply year-over-year, which meant applicants to fields with steadier approval rates received a larger proportion of total approvals. Because applicants to Arts, Humanities, and Social Science programs had an average approval rate of 48%,⁴ which was closer to 2023 levels than most other fields, their share of study permit approvals in 2025 reflected that durability.

Science program applicants benefitted from the steadiest visa approval rates, remaining stable year-over-year at 56%. The Sciences bucket grew from roughly 1% of student visa approvals in 2022 to 8% in 2025. As such, institutions with meaningful program depth in general sciences entered 2026 on firmer ground than most of the sector. General Sciences and Agriculture program applicants were approved at rates well above the post-secondary average in every year noted above.

The proportion of approvals to students in Health Sciences and Medicine programs held roughly flat year-over-year, lifting from 9% to 11%. Biomedical and Medicine sub-fields had similar approval rates to 2024, while the larger Health Sciences sub-field fell. Overall, the 2025 study permit approval rate for Health Sciences and Medicine was 31%.

Lastly, students entering Trades and Vocational programs received less than 3% of study permit approvals between 2022 and 2025. This field had the lowest study permit approval rate of any field in 2025, at 19%.

The 2025 data shows that last year, students applying to university programs and scientific fields had a clear advantage when it came to applying for a study permit. In contrast, applying to business credentials or shorter programs was less likely to be successful. While not prescriptive, this shift aligns with Canada’s physical economy needs, particularly in the sectors that sustained strong study permit approval rates. For instance, the health care and social assistance sector saw a 49% increase in job vacancies versus 2019. This highlights an opportunity for institutions to more closely align international student interest with demand for talent in such priority sectors.

Clear Academic Pathways Lead to Successful Student Recruitment Outcomes

The 2025 study permit data also reinforces that applicants with a clear academic path are more likely to receive study permit approvals. Applicants with a chosen program which continued their prior study or career history had higher success rates. For example, a master’s after a bachelor’s is a clear path. As we noted in a recent webinar, the applicants with the highest approval rates are those whose Statement of Purpose makes the link between their study history, their work history, and their chosen program explicit.

This serves as a strategic blueprint for institutions looking to optimize their enrolment outcomes. By focusing on applicants who are aligned with program demand and long-term labour market needs, institutions can proactively refine their portfolio weighting to prioritize those credentials—such as university degrees and applied sciences—that have historically stronger approval rates.

This trend requires institutions to apply the same outcomes-focused scrutiny upstream: identifying and guiding applicants toward programs where their documented trajectory is strongest. ApplyBoard facilitates this strategic alignment, leveraging proprietary data to surface essential profile-to-program fit signals earlier in the funnel. Curious about how our team can support your institution’s international recruitment strategies? Reach out to our Commercial Partnerships team today.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The terms student visa and study permit are generally used interchangeably for Canadian international students. Rather than student visas, Canada provides accepted international students with study permits, which allow those students to enrol in classes at Canadian institutions. When a student is accepted for a study permit, they are also usually provided with a visitor visa, which allows that student to enter Canada for their studies. In this article, we’ll use the terms interchangeably.

2. All data is sourced from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) unless otherwise noted.

3. Figures reflect IRCC operational data extracted March 23, 2026, and are subject to minor revision.

4. For the study permit approval rate for Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, we have combined the study permit approvals for the Arts and the Law, Politics, Social, and Teaching sectors.

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