IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/str/wpaper/22-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

International Student Applications in the United Kingdom After Brexit

Author

Listed:
  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes

    (University of California Merced & IZA)

  • Agnese Romiti

    (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde)

Abstract

On June 23, 2016, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. We examine how Brexit impacted international student applications. Using administrative data spanning from 2013 through 2019, along with a quasiexperimental approach, we find that Brexit curtailed the growth rate of international student applications by seven percent even before tuition fees had changed, ultimately lowering enrolments as well. The impact is larger for applications to pursue STEM studies and for those from countries with worse employment prospects and weaker economies, suggesting students’ ability to stay long-term in the United Kingdom was a critical pull factor.

Suggested Citation

  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Agnese Romiti, 2022. "International Student Applications in the United Kingdom After Brexit," Working Papers 22-03, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:str:wpaper:22-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.strath.ac.uk/media/1newwebsite/departmentsubject/economics/research/researchdiscussionpapers/International_Student_Applications_in_the_United_Kingdom_After_Brexit_22-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breinlich, Holger & Leromain, Elsa & Novy, Dennis & Sampson, Thomas, 2020. "Voting with their money: Brexit and outward investment by UK firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Takao Kato & Chad Sparber, 2013. "Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 109-126, March.
    3. Jennifer Hunt & Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle, 2010. "How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 31-56, April.
    4. Sascha Becker & Thiemo Fetzer & Dennis Novy & Sascha O. Becker, 2017. "Who Voted for Brexit?," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 15(04), pages 03-05, December.
    5. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Estimating the social return to higher education: evidence from longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 175-212.
    6. Sascha O Becker & Thiemo Fetzer & Dennis Novy, 2017. "Who voted for Brexit? A comprehensive district-level analysis," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(92), pages 601-650.
    7. John Bound & Breno Braga & Gaurav Khanna & Sarah Turner, 2020. "A Passage to America: University Funding and International Students," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 97-126, February.
    8. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    9. Dustmann, Christian & Fadlon, Itzhak & Weiss, Yoram, 2011. "Return migration, human capital accumulation and the brain drain," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 58-67, May.
    10. Liberini, Federica & Oswald, Andrew J. & Proto, Eugenio & Redoano, Michela, 2019. "Was Brexit triggered by the old and unhappy? Or by financial feelings?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 287-302.
    11. Gnanaraj Chellaraj & Keith E. Maskus & Aaditya Mattoo, 2008. "The Contribution of International Graduate Students to US Innovation," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 444-462, August.
    12. Eric T. Stuen & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Keith E. Maskus, 2012. "Skilled Immigration and Innovation: Evidence from Enrolment Fluctuations in US Doctoral Programmes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(565), pages 1143-1176, December.
    13. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2014. "Knowledge Spillovers from Research Universities: Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(1), pages 171-188, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Romiti, Agnese, 2021. "International Student Applications in the United Kingdom after Brexit," IZA Discussion Papers 14247, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Bongers Anelí & Díaz-Roldán Carmen & Torres José L., 2022. "Highly Skilled International Migration, STEM Workers, and Innovation," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 73-89, January.
    3. Shih, Kevin, 2017. "Do international students crowd-out or cross-subsidize Americans in higher education?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 170-184.
    4. Winters, John V., 2014. "Foreign and Native-Born STEM Graduates and Innovation Intensity in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 8575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Murat Demirci, 2020. "International students and labour market outcomes of US‐born workers," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1495-1522, November.
    6. John V. Winters, 2017. "Do Native STEM Graduates Increase Innovation? Evidence from U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Economics Working Paper Series 1714, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    7. John Bound & Breno Braga & Gaurav Khanna & Sarah Turner, 2021. "The Globalization of Postsecondary Education: The Role of International Students in the US Higher Education System," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 163-184, Winter.
    8. Beine, Michel & Peri, Giovanni & Raux, Morgan, 2023. "International college students’ impact on the US skilled labor supply," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    9. Cristelli, Gabriele & Lissoni, Francesco, 2020. "Free movement of inventors: open-border policy and innovation in Switzerland," MPRA Paper 107433, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Cristelli, Gabriele & Lissoni, Francesco, 2020. "Free movement of inventors: open-border policy and innovation in Switzerland," MPRA Paper 104120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Crown, Daniel & Faggian, Alessandra & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2020. "Foreign-Born graduates and innovation: Evidence from an Australian skilled visa program✰,✰✰,★,★★," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    12. William R. Kerr, 2020. "The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-37.
    13. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    14. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2015. "Does Immigration Affect Whether US Natives Major in Science and Engineering?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 79-108.
    15. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    16. Amory Gethin & Clara Martínez-Toledano & Thomas Piketty, 2022. "Brahmin Left Versus Merchant Right: Changing Political Cleavages in 21 Western Democracies, 1948–2020," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(1), pages 1-48.
    17. Dr Max Nathan, 2013. "The wider economic impacts of high-skilled migrants: a survey of the literature," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 413, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    18. Kahn, Shulamit & MacGarvie, Megan, 2020. "The impact of permanent residency delays for STEM PhDs: Who leaves and why," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    19. Annie Tubadji & Thomas Colwill & Don Webber, 2021. "Voting with your feet or voting for Brexit: The tale of those stuck behind," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 247-277, April.
    20. Simon Rudkin & Lucy Barros & Paweł Dłotko & Wanling Qiu, 2024. "An economic topology of the Brexit vote," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 601-618, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Brexit; international student applications; college education; United Kingdom;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:str:wpaper:22-03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirsty Hall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edstruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.