Understanding the international student experience

By Adriana Perez Encinas and Jesus Escriva. Mobility has a socioeconomic impact on receiving countries. Students not only spend money on accommodation and food, but they also travel, visit new cities and join in more cultural and social activities than they might do in their home countries. According to the latest ESNSurvey data, more than 25% of mobile students visited more than 10 cities in their host country and an average of 3.2 countries during their period abroad, staying in paid accommodations 68% of the time. Family and friends tend to visit international students or trainees and, in 2015, more than 40% of these visitors stayed in paid accommodation for an average of four days. Mobility is, in this sense, likely to have a positive impact on host countries’ economies – also boosting smaller local economies. More...