(Radio Iowa) – The number of international students attending the University of Iowa has fallen for eight straight years, only in part due to the pandemic. Russell Ganim, the U-I’s dean of international programs, tells KCRG-TV the trend really comes from changes other countries are making in higher education. ”If you look at China, the country has invested a lot in higher education. They built many colleges and universities,” Ganim says, “so they no longer needed to outsource higher ed to countries like the U.S. or the U.K. or Australia or western Europe.”

One of the largest international student groups at the U-I is China, which had roughly 25-hundred international students in Iowa City in 2015. Now, that number has dwindled to just 432, a drop of 83-percent. The New York Times reports American students looking to study in China may be hesitant because of the relationship between the two countries, something Ganim says students from China consider, too.

“Students still want to come here,” Ganim says. “They are concerned about world events but in many instances, it doesn’t necessarily affect their plans to study at Iowa or elsewhere in the United States or anywhere in Western Europe.” Instead of seeing a major drop in all international students, the U-I is seeing a shift in which countries are sending students. “It’s true that the Chinese contingent has decreased,” Ganim says, “but now we’re seeing more countries than ever represented among our international student body.” China, along with India, still sends more international students to the university than any other country.

“India is trying to build education infrastructure the way China did say 15-20 years ago, but it’s having trouble keeping up,” Ganim says. “As a result, it is outsourcing at least some of its higher education needs to the West.” Ganim says the U-I has increased recruiting efforts in India and the Middle East to lure more international students.

The overall number of international students has dropped 56% since 2015, but Ganim says the numbers are now moving in the right direction.