Foreign / international students enrolled

Description

The number of students enrolled refers to the count of students studying in the reference period. Each student enrolled in the education programmes covered by the corresponding category is counted once and only once. National data collection systems permitting, the statistics reflect the number of students enrolled at the beginning of the school / academic year. Preferably, the end (or near-end) of the first month of the school / academic year is chosen (special arrangements are made for part-year students who may not start studies at the beginning of the school year). Students are classified as foreign students (non-citizens) if they are not citizens of the country in which the data are collected. While pragmatic and operational, this classification is inappropriate for capturing student mobility because of differing national policies regarding the naturalisation of immigrants. Countries that have lower propensity to grant permanent residence to its immigrant populations are likely to report second generation immigrants as foreign students. Therefore, for student mobility and bilateral comparisons, interpretations of data based on the concept of foreign students should be made with caution. Students are classified as international students if they left their country of origin and moved to another country for the purpose of study. Depending on country-specific immigration legislation, mobility arrangements, and data availability, international students may be defined as students who are not permanent or usual residents of their country of study or alternatively as students who obtained their prior education in a different country, including another EU country.