GLOBAL

International students flock to emerging economies
Emerging economies have seen a sharp rise in foreign students at their universities. The US and other developed nations in Europe and elsewhere have traditionally been popular destinations for students venturing abroad, but more people are now heading to Turkey, Argentina and other fast-growing economies to pursue higher education, write Maya Shimizu and Momoko Kidera for Nikkei.Rina Lika, a 20-year-old Albanian student, initially planned to go elsewhere in Europe but decided to attend school in Turkey. “Many Turkish universities have good reputations, and the Turkish government offers scholarships covering not only tuition and dormitory fees but also living expenses,” said the international relations major at Ankara University. Universities in Turkey enrolled a total of 180,000 international students in 2020, up tenfold from 20 years earlier.
Besides Turkey, other rapidly growing economies in the Group of 20 nations are popular with international students. Over the 20 years through 2020, the number of foreign students rose roughly 37 times in Argentina, 19 times in Mexico and seven times in India, while it rose only threefold worldwide, on average, according to UNESCO.
Full report on the Nikkei site