The Volatility of International Student Flows

By Philip G. Altbach. The past several decades have seen consistent increases in the numbers of students studying abroad. More than 4.3 million students studied abroad in 2011, more than double the number of mobile students a decade earlier. Many assume that expansion will continue indefinitely—and indeed that has been the trend in the era of massification of enrolments and globalization. Yet, international student flows can be quite volatile. The more countries and institutions think of international students as commodities to be traded, the more this volatility may have consequences for budgets and academic programs. Read more...