Universities in Argentina are reporting significant increases in international students since the last government report in 2007. Then, there were a reported 23,737 international students in Argentina, but industry players estimate it has now reached 25,000.
The majority of international students come from Colombia and other Latin American countries to study undergraduate degrees at universities in Buenos Aires.
“At the Universidad de Palermo 30% of our students are foreign and the figure is growing,” Faculty of Science and Economics dean Gabriel Foglia told LaNacion. “Just this year the total increased by 2% and we already have between 3,500 and 4,000 international students.”
Foglia said the university had clear internationalisation goals. “The university has communication strategies in specific countries, they organise talks and publicity campaigns, but our main source is word of mouth from students who recommend their experience.”
“In Latin America, the university has great prestige, it positions itself basically thanks to rankings”
The Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) reported that international students had risen by 45% since 2007. In 2009 they had about 6,700 foreign students and the number is on an upward trajectory partly due to last year’s QS rankings which put UBA in the top ten for Latin American universities behind Brazilian, Chilean and Mexican institutes.
“In Latin America the university has great prestige. It positions itself basically thanks to rankings and attracts students not just for its academic level, but also for its gratuity,” said Matías Perdigurés from the secretariat of the UBA.
Accrding to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ranking, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Universidade de Sao Paulo and UBA are among the three most famous universities in Latin America. Perdigurés credits UBA’s well-known name in Latin America for almost half of the foreign student population at UBA coming from the Mercosur countries- Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Not surprisingly the rise in international students means more Colombian students as well who are attracted to their southern neighbour as a cheaper option to their own expensive network of public universities.
“In 2009 we had only 50 Colombian students,” said Mercedes San Martín, International Relations coordinator at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE). “Today that number has risen by 45%.”
According to 2007 numbers, the size of the institution was indirectly proportional to the percentage of international students. Small private universities reported the largest percentage of international students in their populations.
The statistics also show that international student fees in Argentina fall in the middle compared with American countries, listing at 1.05% – higher than in Chile and Mexico which charge 0.9% and 0.1% respectively but lower than in Uruguay at 2.2% and the US at 3.4%.
