If the 264 million students enrolled in higher education worldwide were to form a country, it would be the fifth-largest nation in the world. More than half of its inhabitants would be women, the majority would live in Asia, and English would be the dominant language. That is the picture painted by Dan Garisto in a recent Nature analysis (25 September 2025). A country in full growth, because since 2000, the number of students worldwide has more than doubled. The number of students crossing borders to study has also tripled, to almost seven million.
And yet, the sense of ever-increasing connectedness is more fragile than it seems. Wealthy nations in the West are becoming less welcoming to international students. The United States is the clearest example, with stricter visa rules and restrictions that are leading to a third fewer international students entering the country. Other students are turning to alternatives, such as their own region, countries like the Netherlands or South Korea, or even branch campuses of well-known universities in their home countries.
What is striking is that an increasing number of countries are seeking to increase participation. India aims to increase its enrolment rate from 28% to 50% by 2035. In East and Southeast Asia, participation rose from 15% in 2000 to 62% today. Only sub-Saharan Africa lags far behind: just 9% of young people attend university, and women remain under-represented. The biggest obstacle is simply money.
Greater access to higher education sounds positive, but it also brings new tensions. As more people earn a degree, the bar for entry into the labour market rises. What once was a ticket to opportunity quickly becomes a minimum requirement. In this way, higher education risks both opening and closing doors simultaneously.
We also see that the globalisation of universities shapes what is taught. Increasingly, STEM takes centre stage, with China leading in research output and collaborations, although geopolitical tensions are also growing there. Meanwhile, in many regions, the share of private institutions is rising. They can respond more quickly to demand, but often with weaker guarantees of quality.
The future of this “country” of students remains ambiguous. It will continue to expand, with perhaps as many as ten million students soon studying abroad. However, the question remains: will higher education be a driver of equal opportunity, or will it rather be a filter that reinforces inequality?
Perhaps that is the most important lesson from this article: the university has always been an international institution. The question is how long we can keep it that way.