Big four’s policy shifts drive global student interest to SA

Africa’s biggest international study destination, South Africa (SA), could gain from international students who now face additional barriers to studying in the big four destinations of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and Australia due to policy changes. SA’s larger metropolitan universities would benefit the most.

South African universities have become more popular among students whenever opportunities in one of the big four countries wane, according to an analysis by the Dutch organisation Studyportals. The analysis is based on 4,558 degree programmes at 27 institutions in South Africa.

South Africa is the world’s 19th-top destination, comparable to destinations such as Switzerland and Denmark that are ranked two places ahead, and draws 1.4% of the global student interest, according to a presentation during the 26th annual conference of the International Education Association of South Africa in Johannesburg in August 2024.

To capitalise on the reduced interest in the top four destinations, South Africa must contend with Italy which is positioning itself to benefit from international students who will not gain admission to the big four’s universities.

Aggressive marketing needed

“While there has been incremental growth of page-views year-over-year, similar to European study destinations, the interest in South Africa, in particular, increases when interest in the big four declines,” said Damaris Clark, a data analytics consultant at Studyportals, during her presentation at the conference. The most interest in South Africa as a study destination is among Indian students, followed by American and Nigerian students.

To capitalise on the change in fortune of the top four most popular study destinations in the world, big universities in South Africa would need to promote themselves aggressively for the best results, as they are the ones preferred by many international students from outside Africa, said Gyles Hawkins, leader of the Studyportals team that works with universities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Smaller South African universities and even larger ones outside of the big cities that I’ve spoken to, say they find that international students from outside the region are normally only interested in studying at larger universities in the big cities like Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town,” Hawkins said.

“So, these larger metropolitan universities will potentially gain international students from outside the region but would need to aggressively promote themselves to get the best results. Other countries are also trying to capitalise on the demand created by the change of policy in the big four,” he added.

Students from African countries who could have previously met the financial and visa requirements for the big four but who will now struggle to do so, provide a pool of potential students for South African universities. “Again, those promoting themselves most energetically will reap the greatest benefits,” Hawkins told University World News.

South Africa most popular in Africa

“The vast majority of programmes that African students using Studyportals choose are offered at universities outside of Africa. Yet financial and visa issues are already preventing most of them from successfully applying to these universities. South African universities can try to target these potential students from [countries like] Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, who might otherwise study in their home countries,” he explained.

South Africa is the most popular destination on the African continent, drawing 75.6% of student interest. Namibia is in a distant second place at 6.3%, Uganda third with a share of 5.4%, followed by Kenya and Nigeria with 4.8% and 2.6%, respectively. Of the programmes students searched, more than 85% are offered on-campus, and 10% are available online, according to Clark’s analysis.

A “strong market opportunity” exists for the disciplines of medicine and health, and computer science and information technology. South Africa ranks in the top 10 destinations globally for medicine and health programmes in terms of popularity at both masters and bachelor levels. Business and management, engineering and technology are also popular.

Most Indian students who want to study in the country are interested in pursuing masters degrees. American students, on the other hand, dominate where it comes to interest in undergraduate programmes, Studyportals found.