Year in review: What we learned in 2025

The market is shifting

Somewhere in the middle of 2025, we started talking not just about the Big Four study destinations – the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada – but also about the Big 14. The latter term is admittedly not always carefully defined, but it certainly has gained currency as a way to describe one of the most important macro trends shaping student mobility this year.

The Big 14 is generally understood to include not only major English-speaking destinations, but also a number of additional countries in Europe and Asia that continue to attract greater numbers of international students. We're talking here about destinations like Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan – and more.

There are a number of factors at work here, including of course the more restrictive policies put in place across the Big Four over the last couple of years. But that is only part of the story. This important market dynamic is also being driven by demand-side changes, including students' interest in more affordable destinations, and by a more active recruitment effort on the part of many of the Big 14 countries.

All that to say: There is an excellent chance that we will look back on 2025 as a turning point in the history of our sector – the year in which the marketplace became more competitive and diverse in terms of global student flows.

The calculus of study abroad is different now

There is no question that there is now a greater emphasis across student markets on affordability and on the return on investment for study abroad.

Those factors – affordability and ROI – have come to the fore in recent years. This is not new, but rather a matter of degree – the extent to which this is a priority for students deciding where and how they will study abroad.

When we look back at all the large-scale student surveys from the year, we see the same findings coming through. Students talk about cost of study, cost of living, availability of scholarships, work opportunities, graduate outcomes. Underpinning those priorities are a need for affordability and return on investment.

The effects of these patterns are already wide-ranging. They have an impact on destination choice of course, but also a massive influence on student expectations for study abroad, especially as they pertain to graduate outcomes.

Public support comes from alignment

Speaking on our most recent edition of the ICEF Podcast, immigration specialist Jeremy Neufeld made the point that immigration policy, as it relates to international students, has to deliver demonstrable, broad-based benefits for the host country. This is key if we are to encourage or maintain the support of the general public, and of policy makers as well, for international education.

Our expectation is that, going forward, we will see much more alignment between government policy, institutional recruiting, and the larger societal and economic goals of an individual study destination.

This time we really mean it

We have been talking about diversification of foreign enrolment for years. But 2025 might be the year where the importance of building a diverse student body has truly been driven home for a critical mass of international educators.

Major study destinations have historically been over-reliant on students from a relatively small number of countries, and from China and India in particular. But Chinese numbers have been softening since before the pandemic, and India is now showing signs of slowing as well. At the same time, many institutions are becoming more targeted in their recruitment efforts and more actively diversifying recruitment across a wider field of markets. We expect this to extend into 2026 and beyond.

AI is here

Everyone's favourite acronym came into even greater prominence this year, and we began to see AI having more concrete impacts across the sector:

• Students searched much more on AI for study abroad options. Stakeholders across our sector are moving quickly to learn and adapt to a "zero-click" future and a very different landscape for online search.
• At the same time, international recruitment professionals are making greater use of AI tools to manage their recruitment pipelines and engage with prospective students more effectively and efficiently. Especially in a more competitive environment – where timeliness and responsiveness are key – we can expect this AI toolkit to expand and develop further in the year ahead.

Thank you

Last but not least, we want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading and learning along with us. We look forward to bringing you the latest insights on international recruitment all through 2026.