In the academic year 2023/24, there were 331,602 international students from India studying in the United States. International students The majority of international students studying in the United States are originally from India and China, totaling 331,602 students and 277,398 students respectively in the 2023/24 school year. In 2022/23, there were 467,027 international graduate students , which accounted for over one third of the international students in the country. Typically, engineering and math & computer science programs were among the most common fields of study for these students. The United States is home to many world-renowned schools, most notably, the Ivy League Colleges which provide education that is sought after by both foreign and local students. International students and college Foreign students in the United States pay some of the highest fees in the United States, with an average of 24,914 U.S. dollars. American students attending a college in New England paid an average of 14,900 U.S. dollars for tuition alone and there were about 79,751 international students in Massachusetts . Among high-income families, U.S. students paid an average of 34,700 U.S. dollars for college, whereas the average for all U.S. families reached only 28,026 U.S. dollars. Typically, 40 percent of families paid for college tuition through parent income and savings, while 29 percent relied on grants and scholarships.

In an impressive increase from years past, 39 percent of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2022. This figure is up from 3.8 percent of women in 1940. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 36.2 percent of the U.S. male population having completed four years or more of college in 2022, up from 5.5 percent in 1940.

4- and 2-year colleges

In the United States, college students are able to choose between attending a 2-year postsecondary program and a 4-year postsecondary program. Generally, attending a 2-year program results in an Associate’s Degree, and 4-year programs result in a Bachelor’s Degree.

Many 2-year programs are designed so that attendees can transfer to a college or university offering a 4-year program upon completing their Associate’s. Completion of a 4-year program is the generally accepted standard for entry-level positions when looking for a job.

Earnings after college

Factors such as gender, degree achieved, and the level of postsecondary education can have an impact on employment and earnings later in life. Some Bachelor’s degrees continue to attract more male students than female, particularly in STEM fields, while liberal arts degrees such as education, languages and literatures, and communication tend to see higher female attendance.

All of these factors have an impact on earnings after college, and despite nearly the same rate of attendance within the American population between males and females, men with a Bachelor’s Degree continue to have higher weekly earnings on average than their female counterparts.

In 2024, approximately 2.36 million students were enrolled in universities and junior colleges in South Korea. This figure represents a slight decline compared to the enrollment numbers from the previous year, indicating a persistent trend of decreasing student population in higher education institutions in recent years. The overall university enrollment rate stood at around 75 percent in 2024. Education in South Korea The education landscape in South Korea has been significantly influenced by the country's rapid economic growth following the Korean War (1950-1953). During this time, education became a cornerstone for societal development, and South Koreans began to view access to quality education as vital for personal and professional advancement. This emphasis on education has resulted in South Korea having the highest proportion of tertiary-educated people in the world. A degree from a prestigious university is often seen as essential, impacting further career opportunities, and even social status. Competitiveness and social pressure The pursuit of an academic degree in South Korea is largely influenced by external pressures rather than internal motivations. Students face intense competition to gain admission to prestigious universities. This competitive environment fosters a culture of rigorous study and preparation, with many students attending regular classes during the day and going to hagwons (private tutoring institutions) in the evenings and even on weekends. The alarmingly high suicide rate among young people in South Korea is an indication of the intense pressure and competition they face during their education.

Colleges and universities in the United States are still a popular study destination for Chinese students, with around 277 thousand choosing to take courses there in the 2023/24 academic year. Although numbers were heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic, China is still the leading source of international students in the U.S. education market, accounting for 24.6 percent of all incoming students. The education exodus Mathematics and computer science courses led the field in terms of what Chinese students were studying in the United States, followed by engineering and business & management programs. The vast majority of Chinese students were self-funded, wth the remainder receiving state-funding to complete their overseas studies. Tuition fees can run into the tens of thousands of U.S. dollars, as foreign students usually pay out-of-state tuition fees. What about the local situation? Although studying abroad attracts many Chinese students, the country itself boasts the largest state-run education system in the world. With modernization of the national tertiary education system being a top priority for the Chinese government, the country has seen a significant increase in the number of local universities over the last decade. Enrolments in these universities exceeded 37 million in 2023, and a record of more than ten million students graduated in the same year, indicating that China's education market is still expanding.

The number of foreign full-time university students in Hungary showed a steady increase between 2009 and 2020 with their number slightly dropping in the school year of 2020/2021. In that year, over 32 thousand international students were enrolled at Hungarian universities. By the school year of 2023/2024, their number increased to 37.5 thousand.  Stipendium Hungaricum holders Stipendium Hungaricum is a scholarship program sponsored by the Hungarian government. It was established with the aim of attracting top-performing international students to who would contribute to the country’s international recognition by building economic, political, and civil relationships. In the fall semester of 2020, there were nearly 11 thousand Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship holders in the country compared to 1.3 thousand recorded in 2015.  Leading Universities Hungary is home to several internationally recognized higher educational institutions. According to the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, in 2024, the research-led medical school, Semmelweis University achieved the highest score of all higher educational institutions in the country. At the same time, based on the QS World University Rankings, the University of Szeged was the top-ranked University in Hungary.

In the academic year 2022/2023, over 103,000 students were enrolled at La Sapienza University of Rome, the largest Italian university. Pegaso online University followed with 95,000 enrollments. Around 79,000 students attended classes in Bologna, the oldest university in the world and the best in the country. Finally, the University of Turin collected 72,000 students. In total, 1.9 million undergraduates were enrolled at Italian universities. Ancient, public, and digital higher education Among the 20 largest Italian universities, 16 of them are public institutes. The four private universities are the Catholic University of Milan and three online universities. Among them, Pegaso University was founded in 2006 and counts 95,000 students. Many of the world's oldest higher-learning institutions are located in Italy. The University of Bologna is the oldest university, continuously operating since 1088. In 1222, scholars from Bologna founded the University of Padua. Two years later, in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II was established, the oldest public and secular institution globally. In the 14th century were constituted the universities of Perugia, Siena, Pisa, and Pavia. Popular courses of study Back in the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna offered mainly subjects of liberal arts, law, and theology. However, these seem to rank lower among the most common degrees nowadays. Almost 264,000 students in Italy enrolled in economics programs, the most popular field of study. Moreover, medicine was the second most chosen degree program.

The university in the United States with the largest endowment market value in 2023 was Harvard University, with an endowment fund value of about 49.5 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. higher education Colleges and universities in the United States rank highly among the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher education. Many universities are particularly well known for their strong research capabilities and their connections to many Nobel Prize winning laureates.The U.S. university system is largely decentralized. Except for service academies and staff colleges, the federal government does not directly regulate universities; public universities are administered solely by the individual states. Besides the state administered public universities, there are many private universities in the United States, most are non-profit institutions, similar to the public universities, but there are also a number of institutions that rely on profit (Walden University in Minnesota, for example).In general, tuition fees are required to be paid by students at American universities. Public universities generally charge lower tuition rates to in-state students, than to out-of-state students. Private universities are often much more expensive than public ones because they do not receive funding from state governments.American students are often required to take out student loans to supplement scholarships and grants provided by diverse sources to be able to pay for tuition. Student debt has become a major issue in the United States in recent years, with many Americans unsure if they can even afford to pay off their student loans in the future.