Using the Institute of International Education’s list of Leading Destinations for U.S. students abroad, we’ve found the most popular universities where U.S. students go to get a global education. To assemble our ranking, we found international student demographics for the top ten universities in each country using a combination of institutional Facts & Figures pages along with QS’s international student distribution for universities who don’t have those pages.
After that, we scored our sample based on three metrics: (1) The rank of an institution’s home country according to IIE’s list; (2) The rank of an institution’s raw number of international students; and (3) The rank of an institution’s population percentage of international students. Each one of these metrics accounted for 1⁄3 of every university’s composite score, which was then ranked so international universities with the highest numbers for all three metrics rose to the top.
Located in the heart of England’s capital, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a leading university for world leaders. Hosting approximately 6,583 international students who comprise 70 percent of the total student body, LSE is known for teaching some of the world’s biggestbusiness executives and politicial greats (e.g., David Rockefeller and the Kennedys), as well as for ranking consistently inside the world’s top 100 universities, especially in public affairs, international history, and human geography. Among its sizable international student population, 72 percent are postgraduates, while the remaining 28 percent are undergraduates, making LSE’s undergraduate-to-postgraduate ratio 3:7 in favor of international graduate students. With the primary language of instruction being English, U.S. students are welcome and well-represented at LSE. 570 graduates and 218 undergraduates are fully enrolled for a total of 788 Americans on campus in 2016 alone.
With locations all across London, this sprawling British university is the largest in Europe to specialize in fine arts, boasting six colleges that are known the world over. Maintaining a diverse community of 5,265 international students who comprise 37 percent of the total student body, UAL is known for producing many internationally renowned artists, including but not limited to Pierce Brosnan, Steve McQueen, Samantha Cameron, and Alan Rickman. One of the world’s leading creative universities, it counts over 400 students from the United States among its international degree-seeking population, with both study abroad and full-time enrollment options available to Americans.
Located west of Madrid in the autonomous and historic community of Castile and León, the University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain. Hosting over 9,200 international students who comprise 25 percent of the student body, the University of Salamanca is known for producing such notables as the internationally famous Spanish novelist, Miguel de Cervantes, as well as for harboring over 906,000 volumes in Spain’s second-largest university library. Consistently ranked among the top five universities in the nation due to attracting so many students from abroad, the university’s language studies program sees a majority of its 35 percent of international undergraduates and 65 percent of international postgraduates who attend the university to study languages of their choosing.
Based in Melbourne with branch campuses in Europe and Asia, RMIT is Australia’s largest institution of higher education, hosting more than 80,000 students. With a student population that is 46 percent international, almost 2 in every 3 of its 26,000 international students are taught outside Australia. RMIT is known globally for excellence in teaching both theory and technical skills that have practical applications for the fields of technology, design, and business, as well as for generating outcome-focused research in the same domains. Among its international degree-seeking population, 56 percent are undergraduates, while the remaining 44 percent are postgraduates, making its undergraduate-to-postgraduate student ratio a near-even 5:4. Language proficiency in English is required for admittance to a program at any of its locations, making it application-friendly to American students.
Based in the Bloomsbury area of central London, University College London supports the largest higher education institution in the country capital with the highest number of postgraduate students in the United Kingdom. Maintaining a diverse community of 4960 international students who comprise 36 percent of the total student population, UCL is well-known for having taught the founding fathers of modern India, Kenya, Japan and Nigeria, as well as Alexander Graham Bell and the co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix. The global university ranks consistently among the top 20 international universities according to all three international college ranking systems, and it attracts a high number of international students to prove its global spirit. International postgraduates make up 55 percent of the sizable international student population, while international undergraduates make up the remaining 45. Of course, American students are well-represented among these internationals, with approximately 920 U.S. nationals enrolled in full degree programs, along with an additional 600 who study abroad there every year.
