Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia Lead in Sending Students Overseas: Insights from 2024 Southeast Asia Trends
Acumen, an international education consultancy, revealed in its 2024 Key Trends report for Southeast Asia that over 350,000 students from the region were studying abroad in 2022, positioning it as the third largest contributor to outbound student mobility globally, following China and India.
The breakdown within the region showcased:
Vietnam boasted the highest number of outbound students, totaling 132,000, followed by Indonesia and Malaysia, each with 56,000, and Thailand with 32,000.
Notably, the report, drawing from data provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), highlighted Japan as the preferred destination for Vietnamese students, attracting over 44,100, followed by South Korea with nearly 25,000.
Conversely, students from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand predominantly favored the U.K. and Australia.
In the United States, Vietnamese students led the Southeast Asian cohort with over 23,100 enrollments.
Additionally, top destinations for Vietnamese students abroad included Australia (14,100) and Canada (9,000).
While China’s international student data was not included in the UNESCO dataset, it remains a prominent destination for Southeast Asian students. The lack of recent data from the Chinese government since 2019 noted 28,600 students from Thailand, 15,000 from Indonesia, 11,300 from Vietnam, and 9,500 from Malaysia.
Japan aims to boost its international enrollment to 400,000 by 2027, while South Korea targets 300,000, offering increased job opportunities for foreign graduates.
Vietnamese students rank among the top five international student groups in the U.S., top two in Japan, top six in Australia, and the foremost in Taiwan.
Vietnam’s attractiveness as a recruitment hotspot for global education institutions is multifaceted, with factors including its sizable young population (28% aged between 16 and 30), a significant surge in university enrollment rates from 10% in 2001 to 29%, and the prioritization of education within families.
According to a 2018 HSBC survey, education expenditures accounted for 47% of total household spending.
