During the Pandemic, Women Were Two-Thirds of All American Students Who Studied Abroad

According to the Institute of International Education’s latest annual Open Doors report, which provides detailed information on foreign students who come to U.S. colleges and universities and U.S. students who study abroad, women continue to make up a large percentage of U.S. college and university students who choose to study abroad.

In the 2018-19 academic year, more than 347,000 students from the United States studied abroad. More than 67 percent of these students were women. The next year, large numbers of students studied abroad during the fall semester. Then the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major decline in study abroad students for the spring semester.

The latest data reflects the devastating drop in students who studied abroad in the 2020-21 academic year. While the total number of students who studied abroad in the 2020-21 academic dropped by more than 90 percent, women were nearly 66 percent of those who studied abroad.

The number of foreign students who come to the United States to pursue higher education has returned to levels just below those before the start of the pandemic. U.S. institutions reported a 523 percent increase in students going abroad in the summer of 2021. According to IIE’s Spring 2022 Snapshot, 83 percent of institutions noted an increase in study-abroad numbers for the 2022-23 academic year compared to the previous year. These early indications show that demand for international study remains high, and more U.S. students will return to study abroad programs in the coming years.