A bipartisan act named after senator Paul Simon, seeking to boost study abroad among US students, is being introduced in the upper house.

International students contributed some $33.8 billion and supported more than 335,000 jobs across the US in the 2021/22 academic year, NAFSA has calculated.

Total international student numbers in the US show a healthy near-return to pre-pandemic levels, as new enrolments “soared” by 80% year-on-year, new Open Doors data suggests.

As in the 1978 Peaches and Herb song, delegates at the NAFSA Region XI conference in Manchester, New Hampshire were formally “Reunited” as a region for the first time since before the pandemic.

Leading international education bodies have renewed calls for the US administration to produce a national strategy to support the sector’s growth and ensure the country remains competitive. 

One quarter of US billion-dollar companies have a founder who attended a US university as an international student, according to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy.

Students coming to the US to pursue advanced degrees face a harsh reality of “being turned away” from working in the country due to “restrictive immigration policies”, a US congress sub-committee has heard.

Leaders in the study abroad sector shared their predictions with The PIE about timings for the full rebound of the field as well as their takes on hot study destinations for 2023.