💎 International Education Becomes a Strategic Asset. 🌐 Student mobility in focus at Global Skills Week.
Governments scale partnerships, campuses, and policies to compete for global students. Hear from international education leaders at Global Skills Week (25-26 March).
Hello 👋
International education is becoming even more of a strategic lever for talent attraction and global collaboration. Governments are doubling down on expanding partnerships, institutional capacity, and cross-border initiatives to strengthen their position in global student mobility. Japan has allowed select universities to exceed enrollment caps to attract more international students, while Indonesia’s engagement with University of Oxford and Vietnam’s plans to establish a Vietnam University in Laos highlight how countries are deepening academic ties through institutional partnerships and cross-border campuses. A new cooperation agreement between Kenya and Italy on higher education, research, and AI further shows how international collaboration is increasingly linked to innovation and workforce priorities.
Additionally, global student mobility patterns are shifting. The QS Global Student Flows Report report suggests international student enrollments in the United States could decline by roughly 1% annually through 2030 as policy environments evolve and new regional study destinations emerge. And markets such as Malaysia are investing in globally competitive universities and transnational education ecosystems to attract these students. Expect partnerships, transnational programs, and new mobility pathways to play a larger role as universities and governments compete for globally mobile talent.
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The US international student forecast is uncertain.
After rebounding from the COVID-19 decline, international student enrollment in the United States is projected to diverge through 2030, with outcomes ranging from renewed growth above 1.2M students to a gradual decline below recent peaks depending on policy conditions and global competition for internationally mobile students.
🎙️ What's next for International Ed & Talent Mobility? Find out during Global Skills Week.
Global Skills Week March 25-26 Washington, D.C. 🇺🇸
Global Skills Week 2026 convenes the world’s leading skills-focused voices from industry, post-secondary institutions and business schools, alongside senior policy-makers and economic development and technology leaders. Check out the agenda-to-date—more to announce soon!
⭐ AI & Digital Innovation Spotlight
֎ Anthropic and CodePath's partnership aims to revamp CodePath’s computer science curriculum to center on Anthropic’s Claude and Claude Code tools, integrating these AI models into courses and programs for students.
🛡️ TDEWC Services and the University of Adelaide began a research collaboration to develop AI‑enabled, open‑architecture decision‑support capabilities for Australia’s Defence sector that improve interoperability and aid operational decisions.
🤖 NVIDIA announced support for India’s AI Mission by expanding GPU‑based compute infrastructure with cloud and data center partners, enabling sovereign frontier model development, AI research, multilingual AI applications, and ecosystem growth.
🤝 Policy & Partnerships
🎓 The US Department of Labor will award up to $145M in Pay-for-Performance grants to five cooperative agreements to expand registered apprenticeship programs, prioritizing shipbuilding, defense, and other industries with measurable apprentice growth.
🚀 Morocco’s government ministries and AXA Group signed an agreement to develop national workforce skills in artificial intelligence, data science, and digital technologies through coordinated training, apprenticeships, and academia–industry alignment.
🌐 Kaspersky and Qassim University agreed to collaborate on cybersecurity education, allowing the university to use Kaspersky’s training materials, software, and programs to support student and faculty skill development and industry-aligned training.
💪 Power Moves & Funding
⚕️ BAIMS, an online learning provider, has expanded into Iraq by acquiring MedMasters, a health training platform, to extend its regional education services and support training in healthcare.
📋 ECI Partners, a UK-based private equity firm, acquired Paragin Group, a digital exam and assessment provider, to support Paragin’s international growth and expansion of its assessment platform offerings.
🎯 Progress Learning, an assessment and solution provider, has acquired Lennections, adding iGKids' early childhood observation platform to its K–12 instructional and assessment platform.
