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Agyemang, A.; Shijian, Z. COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/22043 (accessed on 05 July 2024).
Agyemang A, Shijian Z. COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/22043. Accessed July 05, 2024.
Agyemang, Andrew, Zou Shijian. "COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/22043 (accessed July 05, 2024).
Agyemang, A., & Shijian, Z. (2022, April 20). COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/22043
Agyemang, Andrew and Zou Shijian. "COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education." Encyclopedia. Web. 20 April, 2022.
COVID-19 and International Student Enrollment for Higher Education
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su14074185

International students’ mobility was not spared in terms of the negative impact of COVID-19 on higher education. Due to globalization and digitalization in the 21st century, the demand for knowledge and professional skills, as well as knowledge exchange at higher education institutions, have increased significantly. International higher education has entered a new deepening stage of globalized development in line with the global knowledge society. The global characteristics of higher education have become increasingly prominent because they enable young graduates to become citizens of the world and not restricted to one’s home country alone. Most of the world’s colleges and universities have implemented projects, programs, and diversification strategies to promote internationalization. The concept and strategy of international higher education is to promote the integration of higher education into global development. Most tertiary institutions have adopted strategies to promote international higher education globally.

COVID-19 enrollment higher education international students

1. Origin and Development of Global International Higher Education and Mobility

International higher education can be traced back to the ancient Greece period [1], through to the Middle Ages of Europe [2], the 16th-century reformation of Christianity [3], the rise of science and excellent discovery period [4] and finally to post-World War II (WWII) [5]. Among these stages, the post-World War II period has seen a significant improvement.
In 1974, through a consulting report, the Japanese government proposed the topic of “internationalized education era” [6]. After the Cold War in 1980, the internationalization of higher education began to move into a new political participation phase and multi-factor participation. In 1990, some developed and developing countries in North America, Western Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia, initiated an unprecedented tide of international higher education [7]. In 1992 [8] it was revealed that internationalized higher education is the primary factor in developing international higher education globally. In 1995, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also reiterated the need for internationalized higher education [9]. In August of 2008, the Chinese-Foreign University President Forum also emphasized the need to improve international higher education in China [10]. In 2017, the United Kingdom officially launched the National Student Mobility Strategy, which aimed to expand the international market for higher education by promoting international mobility [11].
The world powers represented by the United States and the Soviet Union used the internationalization of higher education as a strategic tool in exporting their mainstream ideology and expand their international influence after WWII [12][13].
The formation of regional bodies as part of globalization after WWII brought several countries together within the various regional bodies. These regional bodies sought to develop the economies of member countries, including human capital. In promoting regional economic integration, education cooperation has been triggered to increase cross-border higher education. Multi-regional organizations such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), African Union (AU), North American Freedom Trade Areas (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU), are actively promoting education and cultural cooperation by launching students’ mobility projects [8]. Through regional integrations, countries came to attach great importance to the cultivation of technology, knowledge, and talents. This eventually led to universities competing in the talent market for overseas students and changed the core concept of higher education to global and cross-national education.
Cross-border mobility is not limited to simply spreading and pursuing knowledge, but to absorb the scientific and cultural achievements and education of other countries [14]. With the development of internationalization of education globally, more students leave their country of origin to foreign countries with the aim of getting a higher education.
International students’ mobility is broadly divided into vertical flow and horizontal flow [15]. According to [16], students’ vertical flow refers to students from poor areas and countries and what they think can provide better than their home country. Horizontal mobility refers to countries where students have similar economic development levels in education for both home and abroad [17]. The main driving forces for international students’ mobility have been economic driving force, and learning driving force, and [18][19] suggested that internationalized student mobility is the freedom to seek knowledge opportunities in order to improve living standards. International students’ mobility has experienced a rapid increase among all categories of migrants in the past decade due to the multi-dimensional benefits associated with it. International students’ mobility is used as a significant indicator of international higher education [20].

2. International Higher Education in China

The status of China’s internationalization of higher education started after the opening-up policy barely four decades ago. In 1998, Article 12 of the Higher Education Law put forward “the international encouragement and cooperation of the state to encourage and support the cause of higher education” [21] and entrusted the participation of universities in international development into the system. Barely a decade after introducing international higher education law, the Chinese education reforms clearly emphasized expanding education openness and promoting internationalization cooperation in higher education. In 2016, under the Belt and Road Initiative, Opinions on Accelerating & Expanding the Opening-up of Education in the New Era was put forward by the Ministry of Education (MOE), People’s Republic of China. The MOE emphasized that for Chinese universities to become world-class universities, internationalized higher education must be fully implemented [22]. China’s commitment to international higher education has led to the high enrollment of foreign students in Chinese higher education institutions over the last five years [23].
From the 2011/2012 academic year to the 2015/2016 academic year, the growth rate of international students in China was almost the same as the growth rate in the United Kingdom [24]. China gradually became a new center of internationalized higher education and finally took over the UK in terms of international students’ enrollment [25]. China recorded a significant growth rate for internationalized higher education in the 2016/2017 academic year [23], and since then the growth rate has been very encouraging. From the 2018/2019 academic year, China started recording a galloping growth rate while the USA recorded a creeping growth rate in terms of international students’ enrollment. This has made China become the second preferred destination for internationalized education after the USA [23].
According to the Chinese Ministry of Education [22], 492,185 international students from 196 countries were enrolled to pursue their studies in 1004 higher education institutions in China’s 31 provinces for the 2018 academic year. Out of the total enrollment, about 60% of the international students originated from Asia, predominantly by students from South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia. A good number of students also came from Japan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Malaysia. Besides, international students from Africa contributed to about 16%, while students from Europe contributed to about 15%. Beijing, Shanghai, and Jiangsu provinces remained the top three provincial destinations for international students who pursue higher education in China [22].
The Chinese government and universities have conducted abundant work to adapt to international students, including optimizing international students’ management regulations, improving the international teaching skills and environment, and providing scholarships for outstanding students. In terms of scholarships, the increase in the number of students who receive funding has been attributed to the high rate of foreign nationals studying in China [26][27]. The Chinese government provides several scholarship opportunities at both national and provincial levels to support international students. At the national level, the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) is the primary funding provided to international students. Each of the thirty-one provincial governments also provide funding to support international students. Aside from government scholarship at both the national and provincial levels, some universities and enterprises provide other forms of funding for international students to pursue higher education in China.

3. Theoretical Basis

Push–Pull Theory in International Students’ Mobility

The push and pull theory is a widely accepted method in analyzing the factors affecting the international mobility of students. International students’ flow is the result of the interaction of push and pull factors. The leading factors and direction of student flow are different. Hence, a systematic push–pull factor analysis framework can be used to better analyze which factors drive students to go abroad for studies, as well as what factors attract students to study in their specific home countries. In the study by [28], the authors noted that events that impact the global economy also influence students’ decisions in the push–pull theory of international higher education. According to the push–pull theory, some factors, such as limited access to higher education in home countries [29], change of environment [30], and desire for foreign exposure [31], influence a student to study outside their home countries for higher education. While factors, such as family, convenience, and cost, influence students to stay in their home country for higher education [32].
Different countries are affected by students’ mobility through the push and pull factors. Using selected students from developing countries and their sociological reasons for choosing to study in the United States, the findings from [33] suggest that the main reason for choosing the USA as a destination of higher study is due to the trust they have in gaining quality education as compared to their home country education. Moreover, [32] believes that the motivation that influences the international flow of students to the United States includes the outflow country political environment, and the economic level of the inflowing country. The authors of [34] further elaborated that most international students are pulled to the United States due to the prestige and ranking of the universities in the States and funding opportunities, making the USA the most preferred destination of higher learning. Notwithstanding the pull factor that attracts more international students into the USA, [35] opined that the chance of random shooting, the high cost of tuition, accompanied with less funding opportunities, are the push factors.
Regarding higher education in China, the specific factors covered by “force” or push in the study abroad push–pull theory include economic and political reasons [31]. The political stability in China for the past four decades have put trust and confidence in potential students to migrate to China for their higher education. Aside from political stability, economic achievements by China as the fastest growing economy in the world in 2019, and second best economy in the world in terms of GDP for the year 2019 [36], attracts students to pursue their higher education in China, thereby making China as the second preferred country of pursing higher education globally. In the study by [37], the authors opined that the low cost of studying and staying in China as compared to other countries, such as the USA, Australia, the UK, attracts more foreign students to China, Moreover, [38] added that the many funding opportunities provided by both the central and local government is another major push factor in the push–pull theory of higher education mobility. Notwithstanding the push factor, language barrier has been one of the main factors that pull prospective students from studying in China [28]. Another major factor that attracts more international students to China is the development of double first-class universities, as well as first-class disciplines in some prestigious universities in China [37]. This undoubtedly contributed to China moving from the third preferred study destination to the second preferred study destination.
In a nutshell, the Chinese government has attached considerable importance to international students’ inflow as a way of internationalization of higher education [36]. As more Chinese universities are ranked among top global universities, the competitive advantage that the United States used to enjoy by having more prestigious universities is gradually diminishing, thereby causing a pull factor for the United States and a push factor for China. In addition, another major push factor China is enjoying is the several funding packages that the Chinese government and universities offer to international students which attract more international students to pursue higher education in China. Moreover, the cost of studying in China as compared to studying in the United States is relatively cheap, thereby leading to another push factor for China. Lastly, political stability and economic growth of China over the last decade also attracts more foreign students to pursue higher education in China. However, the global pandemic of COVID-19 which has caused restrictions on international travels and the fear of contracting the virus has resulted in students’ interest in pursuing higher education in their home countries, especially in countries with minimal risk levels.

4. COVID-19 and International Students’ Mobility

The World Health Organization announced on the evening of 30 January 2020 that the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic was listed as an “emergency public health event of international concern” (PHEIC), and the term “global pandemic” was used for the first time [39]. The evolution of the new coronavirus pneumonia into a “global pandemic” means an increase in the severity of the epidemic as well as an increase in the difficulty of fighting the epidemic [40]. Between February and May 2020, many people were actively or passively quarantined and could not go out for daily transactions. As a result, a lot of work and daily routines were carried out via online mediums, including schooling. As the daily confirmed cases of the new coronavirus increased in Europe and North America, all the global study destinations had also been affected due to the lockdown and movement restrictions in such countries. Campus activities were suspended in the USA, UK, Canada, and Germany, just to mention a few.
Based on the theory of push–pull, [41] found that funding provided by the Chinese government at both national and provincial levels attracts many international students to pursue higher education in China. The findings from [42] confirmed the position of scholarship being a motivation factor for international students to pursue higher education in China. Notwithstanding the push factors of international higher education in China, [43] revealed that the new coronavirus that has severely impacted society and the economy did not spare educational institutions globally. In the studies of [44][45], the authors emphasized how the new coronavirus has affected academic institutions to the point that some countries had still not resumed schools as of 31 August 2020, so classes were conducted online, and students made to submit assignments online. A survey conducted on international students’ mobility revealed that 72% of respondents who are international students in the United States claimed that the pandemic has significantly affected their studies and they are likely to extend their study duration for one academic year [46]. All these point to the fact that COVID-19 has affected international students’ mobility. Hence, pulling students from pursuing higher education in China.
The majority of prior research on COVID-19 and international higher education have used a descriptive and qualitative research approach [23][44][47]. In the study by [48], the authors emphasized the significant challenges COVID-19 has caused to global higher education. The study by [47] further explored how students are connected virtually but separated physically in an internationalized university during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.
International students’ mobility was not spared in terms of the negative impact of COVID-19 on higher education. Since the coronavirus was spreading at a high rate with people’s movement, restrictions on movement, including international students traveling from their country of origin to China, were equally restricted [43][49][50]. This has resulted in a lot of newly admitted students who have gained admission for the new academic year but are not within China to register for e-learning.
Even though COVID-19 has an impact on international students’ enrollment, with the introduction of virtual learning for foreign students outside China, the impact of COVID-19 on international students’ enrollment is expected to not be significant.

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