Lengthy visa processing times, “skyrocketing” costs and safety concerns are among the reasons why students from the Gulf region are turning away from study in North America and heading to the UK and Australia instead, experts believe.
Latest figures show that 25,770 students from Gulf countries were enrolled in US universities in 2022-23, a 10 per cent drop year-on-year and the lowest level since 2010. There has been a 67 per cent drop in recruitment since the peak of 78,747 in 2015-16 from the same six countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Canada has seen an even sharper decline, dropping from 7,980 students in 2015 to just over 1,100 this year.
Meanwhile, data from admissions service Ucas shows that the number of Gulf students applying to UK universities jumped by 350 per cent between 2010 and 2024. The 7,910 applications for entry this autumn is the largest number on record by some distance.
