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by ApplyBoard Inc | Published on : Nov 19, 2026
Around the world, the international education landscape is being redesigned. Volatile policy environments and new economic realities, coupled with the evolving ambitions of students themselves, have reshaped the scale and direction of student mobility. While the global appetite for study abroad remains robust, the pathways students are choosing and the questions they are asking have fundamentally changed.
This new global reality is challenging institutions and education systems to adapt. Some are actively forging new partnerships, while others are expanding support services and refining their value propositions. Yet across the sector, universities and colleges are grappling with enrolment declines, underutilized infrastructure, financial strain, and growing pressure to justify their relevance in a competitive and uncertain terrain. The imperative to both build and rebuild trust is more pressing than ever.
At the heart of this transformation are the students themselves, who are asserting greater agency in shaping their educational journeys. Today’s students are more informed than ever, actively navigating tightening post-study work policies and weighing the cost of living against future prospects, all while considering destinations beyond the traditional “Big Four.” Their strategic choices are already reshaping the global education map.
This year’s Trends Report explores the collaborative effort required from institutions, governments, and communities to meet this dynamic era of reconstruction. Drawing on international data as well as partner insights and student perspectives, we examine how global education is being rebuilt structurally and reputationally for a new generation of learners. As we look ahead, one thing is clear: sustainable success will require a deeper commitment to quality, relevance, and shared purpose.
Last year, our Trends Report centred on how the international education sector as a whole needed to navigate a landscape being shaped by geopolitical shifts, economic pressures, new governments and election cycles, and rapid technological advancements. These headwinds have only accelerated since then.
Indeed, the major English-speaking destinations known as the “Big Four” experienced volatile international student demand in both 2024 and 2025, a trend we expect will continue throughout 2026.1 These developments have narrowed pathways to traditional study destinations while alternative ones have solidified their appeal, changing the very foundation of global student mobility.
The result is a landscape where the global competition to attract the world’s brightest minds has never been more intense. For the “Big Four,” the imperative is now to actively build new offerings and rebuild trust to create a compelling value proposition for prospective students, one squarely focused on ensuring student success from application to alumni status.
International Student Demand for Major Anglophone Destinations Remains Volatile
In 2025, governments in major English-speaking destinations have continued to use policy levers to manage international student flows. Their messaging has centred on a) limiting overall enrolment growth and b) redirecting students into pathways that better align with workforce needs. In the “Big Four,” domestic pressures around housing, affordability, and net migration are increasingly driving policy decisions. The result is an environment where institutions are often forced to respond to structural shifts rather than outright define them, limiting their ability to plan strategically for the long term.
The most impactful policy shifts have been student enrolment caps. Canada tightened its study permit cap by another 10% for 2025, meaning immigration officials intended to issue a maximum total of 437,000 study permits.2 Critically, Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) requirements were also expanded to include both graduate and onshore students, making nearly all international students subject to cap policies.3 Likewise, Australia’s National Planning Level set a soft cap of 270,000 international student commencements for 2025,4 while the 2026 cap has the potential to reach 295,000 commencements.5
The UK, meanwhile, released its 2025 White Paper on Immigration, which built on an already stringent student visa policy environment. Under the new suggested Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) thresholds, institutions will need to keep refusal rates below 5% (up from 10%) and course completion rates above 90% or else face sanctions. And while the US saw relatively fewer policy changes than other “Big Four” destinations in 2025, prospective students faced expanded online screening and vetting of F/M/J applicants, as well as visa appointment bottlenecks over the summer.6
With international students receiving mixed messaging (whether explicitly or implicitly) about how welcome they are, “Big Four” destination markets are seeing volatile demand for their international education sectors:
We anticipate that Canada will issue about 140,000 new international student visas7 in 2025 , the fewest total among the “Big Four” destinations.8 This would be a 54% decline over the number of new issuances in 2024. Canada’s downward trend is being driven by three primary factors: lower application volumes, lower approval rates, and a higher proportion of onshore extensions. Looking at just the postsecondary level, we project that Canada will approve just 80,000 new student visas in 2025, with an approval rate below 40%. This would mark the lowest number of post-secondary approvals for the past decade, even falling below approvals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Additionally, extensions are on pace to account for 64% of postsecondary student visa issuances in 2025, a significant jump from 43% in 2024 and more than double all other post-pandemic years.
Visa extensions outnumbering new visa issuances risks long-term sustainability in Canada’s education sector. A declining volume of incoming students disrupts the continuity of enrolment cycles, posing challenges for institutional planning, resource allocation, and long-term funding models.
— Darin Lee, General Manager, Capio.9
Additionally, Canada’s 2025 Federal Budget has confirmed a target of 155,000 new study permits issued for 2026, and 150,000 new issuances for 2027 and 2028. Achieving these targets would actually be a slight boost from where we expect new issuances in 2025 will net out. For institutions, this reinforces the need to strategize and allocate resources toward student success and long-term stability.
ApplyBoard’s analysis of the 2023/24 Open Doors data showed how OPT drove a new high-water mark for international students in the US that year. Likewise, our analysis of the 2024 SEVIS by the Numbers report showed that participation in STEM OPT was at an all-time high.
The UK stands in contrast to the other “Big Four” destinations in that it’s the only one without a projected year-over-year decline in new international students. We expect around 400,000 main applicants will be issued a UK study visa in 2025, consistent with 2024 levels.14 In fact, there were over 104,000 main student visa applications in H1 2025, which was highly comparable to the all-time high observed in 2023. However, given the pending changes proposed in the 2025 White Paper on Immigration and associated greater scrutiny of student visa applications, we expect student demand will have been more tempered during the second half of 2025.
We forecast that Australia will grant about 195,000 new student visas to primary offshore students by the end of 2025.13 This represents a fall of nearly 15% over 2024. Similarly, we expect around 210,000 applications will be lodged in 2025, a year-over-year drop of 18%. These expected declines are in line with the soft caps on tertiary student commencements. Though demand for Australia has fallen, grant rates are actually up in 2025. The higher ed approval rate of nearly 93% for January to August 2025 represents an increase of about 10 percentage points over the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, around 57% of VET applicants were approved over the same months in 2025, representing a year-over-year growth of nearly 20 percentage points.
Last year, we flagged the absence of consistent, student-facing communication around policy shifts. This gap persists. Without clear, ongoing messaging from policymakers that explicitly connects such changes to students’ outcomes, many prospective applicants will be left uncertain about their future in these destinations. As a result, we expect demand will likely remain subdued in 2026.
The Non-Anglophone Destinations Driving Competition for the Top Students Around the World
The “Big Four” may be seeing dips in demand, but international student mobility continues to flourish. By 2030, over 10 million international students are expected to study outside their home countries, up from 6.9 million in 2024.15 These students drive innovation and economic growth in the countries they study, and many destinations are enacting strategies to attract the next generation of creators and entrepreneurs away from the “Big Four.”
Indeed, in ApplyBoard’s Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner (RP) Pulse Survey, nearly three of every four surveyed student advisors noted students were considering alternative destinations beyond the “Big Four”, Germany, and Ireland. Interest in European countries was particularly strong, accounting for 8 of the top 10 alternative destinations cited:
Germany continues to be one of the brightest stars in Europe, with forecasts showing Germany exceeding 400,000 international students by the 2024/25 winter semester. A main driver of Germany’s popularity is its strong student-to-work transition, which is bolstered by policies that prioritize retention and integration. Although the fast-track citizenship programme—which let the “exceptionally well integrated” gain citizenship in three years instead of five—was rescinded in October 2025,16 recently expanded dual citizenship rights as well as the five-year standard naturalization timeline remain intact.
Because of Germany’s strong student-to-work bridge, about two-thirds of international students intend to stay and work after graduation.17 And, critically, the government recognizes the economic benefits of educating international students. Recent fiscal modelling shows that, over the long term, each yearly cohort of international graduates will generate about €15.5 billion more in public revenue than they receive in state benefits.18
It’s no surprise, then, to see Germany investing heavily into the student journey. In January 2025, the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst or DAAD)19 launched its new “Academic Horizons – Attracting Global Minds” programme, empowering German universities to attract master’s and doctoral students in key technological fields such as artificial intelligence and climate-neutral mobility.20 Additionally, the “Junges Wohnen” construction funding programme enables institutions to modernize and renovate residence halls to better foster affordable housing for students.21 With pathways that support students’ end-to-end education journey, Germany is quickly becoming a top study destination choice for many students.
France was the number one European country respondents to our Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey cited as an alternative destination their students were considering. The 443,500 international students enrolled in higher education in France in 2024/25 was a record-high, representing 3% year-over-year growth.22
Building on this growth, France is targeting 30,000 Indian student enrolments by 2030, highlighting the destination’s renewed push toward strong market outreach.23 Importantly, France is pairing its enrolment goals with practical levers that matter to students. France’s September 2025 Student Housing Plan sets a target of 45,000 new student homes by 2027 using the national “Mon Logement Étudiant” platform to centralise social-residence offers.24 France is also clarifying its study-to-work pathways for skilled graduates: A key update this summer consolidated complex visa routes and created a national salary benchmark, making the transition to employment more transparent and predictable.25
Spain is another European heavyweight actively strengthening its position in the global competition for talent. In June 2025, the Spanish government approved “EduBridge to Spain,” a fast‑track route for international students affected by US visa restrictions that accelerates university admission and study permits that authorize possible part‑time work for the 2025/26 academic year.26 Complementing this, new immigration regulations took effect in May that formalized many student-first measures, including allowing students to work up to 30 hours per week, complete up to 50% of their program online, use an employment contract or firm offer to meet financial requirements, and have eligible family members apply for residence from within Spain.27 These reforms build Spain’s study‑to‑work bridge and reduce application friction for international students, amplifying government messaging that frames international students as talent worth attracting and retaining.
About 242,000 international students pursued their education at Spanish institutions in 2022/23, an 8% increase over the previous academic year. Students from Colombia and Mexico drove much of this growth.28
Other nations are also stepping up their investments in international education to meet the demand from students seeking new opportunities.
One of those countries is New Zealand, the top alternative destination cited by respondents to our Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey. New Zealand is leaning into international education as a growth sector in 2025, pairing upbeat messaging with concrete policy. In July 2025, the New Zealand government announced its intention to see international student enrolments grow from 83,700 in 2024 to 105,000 in 2027 and 119,000 by 2034.29 The same announcement highlighted plans to increase the part-time work hours for eligible students from 20 to 25 per week, with work rights extended to all tertiary students in approved programmes.
The volatile policy environments in major Anglophone nations have accelerated a shift in the global education sector. This has created significant opportunities for other study destinations prepared to offer clear and stable pathways for international students, resulting in a more distributed and intensely competitive landscape.
Countries like Countries like Germany, France, New Zealand, and South Korea are responding with strategic, long-term investments. By linking education directly to career outcomes, improving student supports and housing, and clarifying immigration policies, these destinations are building a comprehensive value proposition and, in doing so, rebuilding the map of global student mobility.
This highly competitive environment empowers prospective students. With a wider array of viable destinations to consider, applicants are now comparing countries based on the tangible returns they offer, including post-study work rights and long-term career prospects. This dynamic encourages students to be more intentional in their choices than ever before, a theme we expect to dominate international education in 2026.
This shift toward more strategic decision-making is fundamentally changing what students demand from an international education. Faced with economic headwinds and unpredictable policy environments (particularly around affordability and work rights), prospective students are assessing the value of studying abroad with greater precision and intent.
Indeed, this new generation of learners is approaching international education as a high-stakes decision rather than a standard path. They weigh safety, belonging, and support alongside career outcomes and affordability, factors that increasingly depend on concrete results rather than marketing and reputation alone. Increasingly, they are examining both what institutions claim to offer and the experiences they actually deliver. In doing so, students are reshaping demand across markets and sending signals about what matters most. The destinations that will lead in the years ahead will succeed by partnering with students as co-creators of their educational journey.
Students Responding to New Economic Realities
The decision to study abroad is, in most aspects, an economic calculation. As detailed in ApplyBoard’s Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey, financial considerations now dominate the decision-making process for prospective students when it comes to choosing where to study.34 Four of the top five drivers cited by our partners relate directly to finances: the cost of studying, the cost of living, and the ability to find work both during and after their studies. “Cost of studying,” in particular, was cited more frequently than at any point since the survey began, with more than nine of ten partners indicating it is a top deciding factor:
This heightened focus on cost could be a direct response to new financial barriers. In Australia, for instance, the student visa application fee was raised to AUD $2,000 in 2025, a move that education bodies argue has led to cratered demand for English language providers, resulting in both school closures and reduced cultural exchange.35 Upfront costs are compounded by day-to-day expenses edging higher in 2025. For instance, UK food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 5.1% year-over-year in August,36 and US food-costs rose 3.9% over the same period.37 Most destinations have raised their proof-of-funds requirements to better reflect the reality of the cost of living, but for students, these are not abstract figures.38 Instead, new financial requirements become tangible hurdles that increasingly dictate where prospective students can and cannot study.
Because of the larger initial investment required, students are actively recalculating the returns on their education. As such, policy shifts that impact graduate earning potential are being met with immediate student scrutiny. In Canada, for example, ApplyBoard projects a 30% reduction in post-graduation work permits (PGWPs) for 2025 due to a culmination of policy changes.39 At the same time, Canada saw a 53% drop in new study permit applications in H1 2025 compared to H1 2024.40 While multiple factors contribute to this drop, international students have historically favoured destinations with accessible post-graduation work opportunities, as evidenced when the UK surpassed its 2030 enrolment goals nine years ahead of schedule after implementing its Graduate Route.
Facing higher upfront costs and more restricted post-graduation work eligibility across most destinations, students are adapting their strategies with a greater understanding of workforce needs. As one respondent said in ApplyBoard’s Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey, they “expect students to lean more toward technology-driven programs like AI, cybersecurity, and data science, alongside fields such as healthcare and sustainability. […]. Overall, the trend will be more career-oriented and skills-focused.”
This recalibration is reshaping how students evaluate destinations. The same survey revealed that Germany and Ireland are widely seen as the most affordable options. And, while Canada’s reputation for affordability improved in Q3 2025, perceptions of both the UK and US dropped significantly. All told, affordability reputation, whether it’s driven by low tuition fees and favorable policies or simply the fading of past negative perceptions, is becoming a critical competitive advantage for institutions looking to attract the next wave of global talent.
A Weak Economic Outlook Awaiting New Graduates
The global economic outlook for 2026 is one of tepid and uneven growth, creating significant headwinds for graduates and institutions alike. The OECD projects that global GDP will slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 3.2% in 2025 and 2.9% in 2026, with higher tariff rates and policy uncertainty dampening investment and trade.41 Likewise, the World Bank forecasts that the global GDP rate will fall by nearly half a percentage point by the end of 2025, down to 2.3%, and that the 2020s as a whole will have the slowest GDP pace of any decade since the 1960s.42 Similarly, the IMF expects global GDP to expand by only 3.2% for 2025 and 3.1% for 2026, slower rates than in 2024.43
In short, the economic landscape that awaits the next wave of graduates is fundamentally weaker than in recent years, putting pressure on both student outcomes and institutional promises. For new graduates in the “Big Four,” this means a more competitive and challenging job market:
Meanwhile, the 7.2 million non-farm job vacancies in the US in August 2025 represented a year-over-year decline of 6%, and was nearly equal to 2019 levels.48 Unemployment in the US has also been steadily ticking upward since 2022, reaching 4.3% in August 2025.49
The UK faces similar conditions: the 723,000 job vacancies for the August–October period of 2025 represented a 12% drop from the same period in 2024, and an 11% decline from 2019.46 Unemployment in the UK reached 5% over the July–September months of 2025, matching the unemployment rate of the same period during the 2020 COVID pandemic.47
Australia is the only destination out of the “Big Four” in which employment opportunities remain above 2019 levels. The 327,000 job vacancies in August 2025 was 48% higher than the same period of 2019, though it’s worth noting that’s still a 30% drop from the 2022 peak and 2% below August 2024.50 Unemployment, meanwhile, sat at 4.5% in September 2025, nearly a percentage point below 2019 levels.51
The information sector52 is showing arguably the most resilience in 2025, with vacancies up by 3% year-over-year in Australia, 5% in Canada, and 27% in the US.53 And in the UK, vacancies in the information sector dropped by just 5% year-over-year, one of the smallest rates of decline with the majority of sectors seeing openings fall between 10% and 25% year-over-year.54
Surprisingly, job availability in the health care and social work sector weakened across the “Big Four” in 2025. Year-over-year, openings were down 8% in the US, 9% in Australia, 15% in the UK, and 26% in Canada. However, even with this relative cooling, the health care and social work sector had the highest overall number of openings in all four markets, meaning it should remain a top field of study among many career-oriented students.
For institutions, shrinking job markets are more than just macroeconomic indicators. In today’s digital world, career trajectories of recent graduates are shared instantly across social and professional networks. Word-of-mouth from alumni navigating a weak job market can influence prospective students’ perceptions of value in real time, potentially eroding the appeal of studying abroad. In other words, a weak economy presents more urgent and tangible reputational risks that demand direct and strategic institutional response.
One effective response is to move work-integrated learning (WIL) from an optional add-on to a core component of the student experience. In a competitive market, students often need a resume with relevant experience and a related degree. Building WIL into programs is gaining system-level momentum. The Government of Canada, for example, expanded federal support in September 2025 to broaden WIL opportunities with private-sector employers. This multi-million dollar investment aims to facilitate 8,000 student placements and engage 2,500 more private sector employers by March 2028.55 At the campus level, institutions are scaling credit‑bearing co‑ops and internships beyond traditional programs, embedding them into disciplines and degree pathways where they were previously rare. For instance, both the University of South Florida and the University of Memphis secured multi-million dollar grants from the Mellon Foundation in January to expand hundreds of undergraduate internships in the humanities.56
The Canadian government’s investment in WIL opportunities is being spearheaded by the Business & Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), a not-for-profit organization that brings together some of Canada’s largest companies and leading post-secondary institutions. “Work-integrated learning transforms how young people prepare for the future of work. With this funding, BHER will not only create thousands of opportunities but also ensure the ecosystem is stronger, more inclusive, and better aligned with industry needs.”
— Val Walker, CEO, BHER.57
Beyond providing work experience, leading institutions are collaborating with industry partners on curriculum design.58 This agile approach helps programs to address immediate skills gaps while improving graduates’ employability. One survey found that 65% of employers used skills-based hiring practices for new entry-level hires, while only 46% of employers used GPA to filter job candidates.59 And, according to Jobs and Skills Australia, over two-thirds of new jobs in early 2025 were in occupations linked to Vocational Education and Training (VET) pathways.60 Taken together, these trends reflect a broader shift in employer values, where practical skills and career-aligned training are increasingly prized over traditional academic qualifications.
Finally, institutions are turning their alumni networks into a powerful engine for career development. In a tight hiring market, alumni are often the quickest bridge to referrals and industry insights. One study found 40% of referral candidates moved from the application stage to the interview stage compared to just 3% of inbound candidates.61 On an employer’s side, referred candidates are associated with lower screening costs, and non-referred workers exhibited a 50% larger productivity variance compared to a referred candidate.62 Given the clear power of referrals, forward-thinking institutions are investing in alumni platforms such as PeopleGrove and Mentorloop. These types of platforms use AI to scale mentorship, proactively matching students with relevant alumni based on their specific career goals and backgrounds.
In all, these strategies demonstrate how institutions can facilitate student success beyond the classroom. Structured workforce pathways are emerging as a core expectation of the postsecondary experience, and the institutions that extend their support into graduates’ early careers will be best positioned to build long-term value and rebuild student trust in the promise of international education.
Leveraging strong alumni networks allows institutions to showcase not only the career guidance available to prospective students, but also the sense of community and cultural inclusion awaiting their on-campus experience. As highlighted above, about 50% of respondents to ApplyBoard’s Fall 2025 Recruitment Partner Pulse Survey noted that the welcomeness of a destination was a top deciding factor among prospective students. This was nearly double the percentage in the previous two iterations of the survey, and the doubling of this metric in such a short time shows that students are responding to the wider narratives unfolding in each destination: stories about who belongs, who is valued, and whether they’ll be safe and supported once they arrive.
ApplyBoard’s Fall 2025 Student Pulse survey asked students directly for their opinion on which destinations they view as open, safe, and welcoming to international students:
Canada, Australia, and Germany all cluster at the top, with over two-thirds of students agreeing they are welcoming destinations. Interestingly, while Canada had the highest positive score (71% agreement), it also drew the most disagreement (19%) among these three destinations, suggesting that Canada’s global reputation is increasingly polarized. Ireland followed these three closely (64% agreement), and critically, had the lowest rate of negative perceptions (12% disagreement) of all destinations. In contrast, the UK had an agreement score below 60% while the US was the only destination with an agreement score below 50%.
Interestingly, when we compared student responses to those of student advisors, we found that students were more likely to have polarized negative feelings about the welcomeness of a destination: Across the board, the proportion of students who strongly disagreed a place was welcoming was always greater than those who only disagreed. Only a small percentage of student advisors strongly disagreed that any of the six destinations were welcoming—ranging from 0.8% to 5.7%—while the proportion of students who strongly disagreed was higher, from 9% to 18%. By contrast, students were much more likely to agree a destination was welcoming, rather than strongly agree.
The perceptions captured in our Pulse Surveys are substantiated by data on students’ lived experiences. In Australia, for instance, the government-led 2024 Student Experience Survey found that 76% of international students rated their overall educational experience positively, a figure that has remained resilient despite cost-of-living pressures.63 And in Canada, CBIE’s 2023 International Student Survey (ISS) found that while most respondents felt safe on campus and in their accommodations, one in five reported feeling unsafe in public spaces and on public transportation—an increase of five and six percentage points, respectively, from their 2021 survey.64 We expect these figures may continue to climb in CBIE’s next iteration of the ISS, given that CBC found in November 2024 that about 23% of newcomers felt less safe in Canada than in their home country.65 Ultimately, an institution’s promise of a welcoming campus can be quickly undermined by a negative off-campus reality.
Indeed, the institutions that will lead the sector tomorrow are those that are moving beyond passive support services and are actively building an infrastructure of belonging. Strengthening ties with local communities, improving orientation and support services, and advocating for inclusive policy at municipal and national levels can all help align student experience with institutional promise. By taking ownership of the entire student journey—from arrival to graduation to workforce entry—institutions can build a reputation of genuine care that will resonate powerfully with the next generation of students.
The international education landscape is evolving, driven by students who approach their global studies with greater foresight and a clearer set of priorities. Faced with challenging new economic realities and shifting policies, today’s learners are making more holistic assessments of their options. They are carefully weighing career outcomes and affordability alongside the promise of a safe and inclusive community.
This evolution in student priorities calls for a corresponding evolution in institutional strategy. The institutions best positioned for the future are those that recognize this change and build tangible value into the entire student experience. This means strengthening pathways to the workforce through integrated learning while simultaneously rebuilding infrastructure prioritizing student well-being on campus.
Institutions and systems are under growing pressure to respond to the scale and complexity of global student demand. Students’ needs are shifting rapidly, driven by new mobility patterns and evolving expectations. In parallel, students are seeking greater diversity across academic, financial, and personal experiences. Meeting these needs demands coordinated investment in infrastructure that assists students across every dimension of their journey: from where they live to how they access care and how they engage with learning.
Across destinations, leading institutions are expanding capacity while rethinking the structures that shape student experience. From housing and health to community connection and digital access, infrastructure is emerging as a strategic lever that signals institutional readiness in an increasingly competitive global environment.
This supply-demand imbalance is evolving from a logistical challenge for students to a strategic risk for the sector at large. With housing affordability a defining political issue in these destinations, the international education sector faces heightened scrutiny due to the influence of international students on local populations. Governments are using policy levers, such as adjustments to student visa numbers and post-study work rights, as tools to manage population growth and to ease pressure on rental markets. Consequently, a destination’s housing capacity is becoming intrinsically linked to its capacity for international student enrolment. Sustainable housing solutions are therefore a critical component for future institutional growth and market stability.
This strategic imperative requires targeted housing planning that adds supply without straining the private rental market. Purpose-built student accommodations can be a crucial part of the solution.
PBSAs are developments specifically designed and professionally managed for students. Often on or near campus, PBSAs frequently feature inclusive rents, safety amenities, and shared study and community spaces. This inclusive environment is designed to ease the transition into post-secondary education, fostering both academic focus and community engagement.70
Beyond campus, PBSAs play a key role in stabilizing local housing markets. By channeling student demand into dedicated accommodations, they reduce competition for homes in the private rented sector (PRS). This link is explicit in public policy: London’s latest planning guidance, for instance, aims to relieve pressure on PRS stock by managing the concentration of new student developments.71 In Australia, market analysis frames PBSA growth as a direct solution to “mitigating pressure on rental demand” in tight city markets.72
Unlike students renting private dwellings, PBSA residents are housed in accommodation specifically designed for their needs, freeing up stock in the wider rental market.
— Property Australia73
Developing purpose-built student housing requires coordinated action across institutions, governments, and private developers. Universities and colleges often provide the land and define student needs while municipal and provincial governments shape the policy environment through zoning changes, permitting, and financial incentives. At the same time, local developers bring the expertise to deliver projects that meet both student and community needs on quicker timelines. These partnerships are essential to ensuring housing supply keeps pace with future enrolment.
In British Columbia, the provincial government and Simon Fraser University announced a co-funded 445-bed residence as the latest phase of a multi-stage expansion in May 2025.77
In Utah, the University of Utah broke ground in January 2025 on a 1,400-bed project using institutional land and private development expertise to fast-track delivery.83
The University of Manchester received planning approval to advance its campus redevelopment with a development consortium, delivering roughly 3,300 modern student beds between 2027 and 2030.87
Housing need is met by PBSA directly through housing students […] and indirectly through helping to alleviate pressure on traditional rented homes.
— Greater London Authority 89
As housing pressures mount, institutions that invest in purpose-built student accommodations are not only strengthening their competitive position, but also contributing to more affordable and inclusive communities. But meaningful housing solutions don’t happen overnight. With timelines that often span half a decade or more, PBSAs require long-term commitments and cross-sector coordination, making policy stability essential. Governments that take a consistent, forward-looking approach to international education and housing policy will give institutions the confidence to further invest in PBSAs, thereby building critical infrastructure and rebuilding public confidence in the sector’s role in sustainable population growth.
Expanding housing capacity is only part of the equation. To foster sustainable enrolment growth and improve outcomes, institutions must scale the less visible but equally vital infrastructure of student success: services related to well-being and academic guidance. Today’s students face complex academic, financial, and emotional challenges. In response, leading institutions are moving beyond siloed or reactive services toward integrated support models that are proactive, community-based, and increasingly enabled by technology.
The need for a systemic approach exists across the “Big Four.” In the UK, half of international students at Russell Group universities report poor mental health, with a majority experiencing instances of discrimination.95 In the US, over a third of all students screened positive for depression in a national study,96 while earlier research shows that international students consistently show higher rates of distress than their domestic peers.97 In Canada, nearly one in five international students surveyed in 2023 said they had considered leaving their institution due to isolation or lack of belonging.98 And in Australia, a report found that over 30% of international student respondents had skipped meals due to cost.99
In all cases, the message is clear: Just as housing requires long-term planning and investment, so too does student well-being. The institutions that are building and rebuilding for the future are those embedding student care into the core of their academic and operational models.
A significant evolution in student support is the adoption of a “whole-institution” approach to success and well-being. This model marks a foundational shift away from siloed, reactive service and reframes student care as a shared, proactive responsibility embedded across the postsecondary experience.100
In practice, a whole-institution approach means moving beyond the counselling centre to examine how academic environments themselves shape student well-being. This includes rethinking assessment design, integrating well-being into the curriculum, and equipping faculty with the training to recognize and respond to student stress. Culturally, a whole-institution approach involves fostering a campus-wide environment of belonging and psychological safety, thereby building an ecosystem that inherently promotes student resilience rather than just intervening when problems arise.
Early signs of progress show that the whole-institution approach is beginning to take root. In the UK, 113 institutions joined the 2024/25 University Mental Health Charter Programme, a growing national framework that empowers institutions in adopting a holistic approach to well-being.101 Likewise, in Canada, the Okanagan Charter calls on post-secondary schools to embed health into all aspects of campus culture and to lead health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally. To date, this charter has been adopted by over 50 post-secondary institutions.102
And data shows that whole-institution approaches yield better outcomes for students and their communities. In the US, the JED Campus initiative is a multi-year training program that helps institutions prioritize mental health by building comprehensive systems founded in seven domains, including helping students develop life skills, promote social connectedness, and increase help-seeking behaviour.103 Participating campuses reported better rates of identifying at-risk students and destigmatizing mental health.104
As institutions deepen their well-being strategies, many are moving beyond campus to build more community-integrated support systems. This next phase of the whole-institution approach means moving from a self-contained model to an “ecosystem of care.” By building partnerships with municipal governments, local health networks, and community organizations, universities create a more resilient and scalable support system. This approach not only expands an institution’s capacity to meet complex student needs, but also strengthens their role as vital civic actors within their communities.
This integration is taking shape through different models. In Canada, direct clinical partnerships like the one between the University of Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) establishes formal and clear referral pathways for students needing specialized, off-campus care.105 In other cases, institutions achieve scale by partnering with government-led initiatives. The Study Melbourne Hub in Australia, for example, provides a city-level anchor for international students, offering free walk-in access to support services for housing, legal advice, and mental health. This effectively extends student care into the urban infrastructure.
Ultimately, these external partnerships do more than just expand capacity. They are redefining the postsecondary institution as a key node in a city’s public health infrastructure, and aligning student support with the broader public systems that shape students’ daily lives. In so doing, this strategy effectively reinforces academic institutions’ role in building more inclusive, resilient communities.
While external partnerships expand the reach of student support, technology is the force multiplier scaling its delivery. To overcome the limitations of physical appointments and office hours, institutions are building a “digital layer” of care that is both personalized and available around the clock. This transformation is advancing on two main fronts: using data to anticipate student needs, and digitizing services to increase accessibility.
The first front involves leveraging AI-powered analytics and early-alert systems to shift from reactive to proactive care. These platforms analyze engagement data, such as course logins or missed assignments, to identify students who may be struggling before they reach a crisis point. Multi-institution studies suggest this approach is effective. A 2025 analysis found that coordinated, data-informed interventions can improve learning persistence by five percentage points.106 Similarly, seven public universities in Georgia working with the National Institute for Student Success—an initiative using predictive analytics to identify institution-level barriers to college completion rates—reported an average seven percentage point increase in first-year retention between fall 2022 and fall 2023.107
The second front is the digitization of services, particularly through on-demand virtual care. Scaled providers now empower hundreds of institutions and millions of students, offering 24/7 access to counselling, case management, and wellness guidance.108 Critically, scaled virtual tech closes access gaps for international students. TELUS Health Student Support, for instance, is widely procured for international cohorts due to its real-time support in five core languages and additional guidance in over 150 languages available by appointment. This design effectively supports students across time zones and cultural contexts.
Together, proactive analytics and on-demand digital services are reshaping how institutions deliver student care. Technology can make assistance more responsive and sustainable. As international students increasingly weigh support services alongside academic and career outcomes, the strength of this digital infrastructure is becoming a defining feature of institutional competitiveness.
In this year’s report, we’ve traced how mobility patterns, student agency, economic conditions, and infrastructure demands are all undergoing significant transformation. The imperative to build and rebuild—from institutional strategies and workforce partnerships to the very infrastructure of student support—defines this new chapter.
But this is only part of the story. The months and years ahead will continue to test the resilience and relevance of the international education ecosystem, offering powerful opportunities for those ready to rebuild with purpose.
At ApplyBoard, we are committed to helping our partners and the sector build for this new reality. The choices that institutions, governments, and students make today will determine the foundations of global education for years to come. In the months ahead, we will continue to provide the data-backed analysis and insights needed to navigate these complexities and empower student success. As we look forward, the mission is clear: to build a more resilient, responsive, and sustainable future for international education, together.
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