Standing Alone

The United States doesn’t have a national internationalization strategy for higher education, but it isn’t alone. Only about 20 percent of countries have such a strategy or include internationalization as part of a national higher education strategy, according to a 2018 research study.  Even so, among the ranks of the top English-speaking receiving countries, the United States stands alone.

Of the top five receiving countries in 2020, the United States is the only one that doesn’t have a national strategy for internationalization. The other four—Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom—have national strategies for internationalization; two have updated them in the last 2 years to address the realities of the pandemic and other global trends. (China, typically in the top 5, did not report 2020 data.) Leaders on U.S. campuses should familiarize themselves with other countries’ priorities and plans to help their own institutions remain competitive globally.

Australia: Reopening Borders, Refocusing Emphasis

Australia released a new strategy for international education in late November 2021, and the timing wasn’t an accident—the nation’s international borders were poised to reopen weeks later for postpandemic mobility. 

“As we welcome international students back onshore, the new strategy…. will ensure Australia moves from recovery into long-term growth,” Alan Tudge, minister for education and youth, said in announcing the strategy’s release.

The new strategy, which covers the years 2021 to 2030, was a response to a drastic drop in international student numbers during the pandemic—new students fell by 22 percent in 2020 after reaching