West African destinations are emerging as the continent’s fastest-growing region for international student searches, with the region seeing a 25% collective growth between April and July this year.
The data, based on roughly 60,000 searches across Keystone Education Group websites, revealed the growth was driven by both local and international interest.
“What surprised us about the Africa effect was that interest isn’t purely emerging from within Africa,” Keystone insights executive Jack Surtees told The PIE News.
“Although they make up a smaller portion of the overall audience, we’re seeing searches for Africa rising from East and Southeast Asia as well as Europe and North America,” he said.
Elsewhere on the continent, Botswana has led the way for African study destinations, experiencing a 58% rise in increase during the same period.
While South Africa remains the dominant educational force in the region – ranking 19th globally for student interest and accounting for over half of all African destination searches – West African countries are experiencing the largest upswing in demand.
According to the search data, students in Nigeria, China, Ghana, Singapore and the US have driven the growth, reflecting strong intra-regional demand as well as a growing global visibility further afield.
As per Keystone’s analysis, while African institutions trail other regions on perceived reputation and subject variety, students are increasingly attracted to the region for its high visa accessibility and affordability.
The report also noted a growing appreciation for Africa’s strengths, including institutions’ niche subject offerings in fields such as tropical medicine and renewable energy.
What surprised us about the Africa effect was that interest isn’t purely emerging from within Africa
Jack Surtees, Keystone Education Group
“Whereby historically many African students seeking to study abroad might look towards North America or Europe, the growing reputation and global visibility of Africa universities offers them a legitimate alternative much closer to home,” said Surtees.
After Botswana, other destinations have experienced notable increases, with Namibia, Ghana and Nigeria all seeing over 28% growth in student interest. And Morocco completed the top five with a 10% rise.
As visa challenges and financial barriers continue to plague the ‘big four’ study destinations, intra-regional mobility has also been on the rise within Asia, as students choose more affordable options closer to home.
The US has become increasingly inaccessible for African students in recent months, with US embassies across the continent some of the hardest hit by the near month-long freeze on student visa interviews, barring some students from enrolling at US colleges this semester.
In a little-known development, last month it emerged that the US State Department had cut the validity period of student visas to three months for 21 African countries, erecting further barriers for prospective African students bound for the US.
In the region, higher educational enrolment among 15–35-year-olds across Africa has more than doubled from 4% to 9% since the turn of the century, another reason why Surtees said he was “unsurprised” by the rising popularity of West African countries.
Meanwhile, the renown of African universities is also on the rise, with Surtees noting the increase in African universities featured in global rankings, highlighting Egypt’s Kafrelsheikh and Mansoura Universities.
“Many of these increasingly highly ranked universities are home to exceptional academics who are seeing greater global visibility as a result,” he said.
