So good morning, everyone. Welcome to our QS webinar on global global student flows. My name is Leonardo Andrade. I'm the director of Europe for QS, and I'm delighted to be joined today by Peter, our senior vice president for Candidate Engagement, and Sebastian, our head of events and candidate marketing, both of them from our student recruitment division at QS. So together, today, we will explore the key findings from the the latest QS global student flows report. This is a comprehensive study that analyzes where the students are moving, what drives their decisions, and how Europe's higher education landscape is evolving towards twenty thirty. This report combines billions of data points from QS global student flows model, which uses insights from our international student survey. They are I assess the largest student survey in the globe, capturing the motivations, preferences of tens of thousands of prospective students worldwide. The goal is to help institutions, governments, universities, business schools, and partners like many of you here today and anticipate the next decade of international mobility and identify where the strongest opportunities lie. Sebastian, Peter, do would you like to introduce yourselves quickly? Sure. Sebastian, how about you go first? Thank you, Pete. So I'm Sebastian. I am based in Buenos Aires, Argentina and leading the student student recruitment events that US organizes throughout the globe through different markets. And I'm just glad to be contributing here at LEO with more data on on on the global student flows and a little bit of the source markets. Great. And, yeah, my name is Keith. I'm the senior vice president of candidate engagement at QS. What that means is that I oversee the student facing business of QS. So QS supply, QS events, as well as the digital division of of QS, that oversees top universities dot com and top MBA dot com. And, yeah, my background is very much Asia focused, but also with a lot of, a lot of Africa, given my previous role. So I'm excited to speak a little bit about, those geographies, in today's presentation. Thank you very much, Sebastian, Peter. This presentation today is specifically to talk about the student flows in Europe, but we have a series of publications. We have published student flows, insights about Africa, Asia, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, China, India, Latin America, Middle East, UK, and the United States. You can find them all on our website or request to me whenever you want. So at the core of this study of this initiative is the global student flows framework. This is a powerful analytical model proprietary from QS that tracks and forecast international student movements from over twenty five hundred cities worldwide. So this allows us to project three possible scenarios for global education in the next four, five years, helping business schools, universities, governments to plan strategically in in this constant shift environment. So we use all the data points from QS, including our websites, our surveys, our rankings data to compile, that you use, apply on this model, and come up with these trends. So let's look before entering specifically in Europe. I think it's important for us to have a look at the global trends, what's going on in the world in terms of patterns of student flow. So in here, we can see the international mobility over the past five decades, and we can see clearly it has grown steadily during this fifty years, reaching an estimated eight point five million students by twenty thirty. So this is despite some disruptions, of course, and crisis like COVID and job let's call geopolitical instabilities in some parts of the world. There is a a notable resilience in acceleration of this growth. With Europe now positioned as one of the main genes driving post pandemic recovery. We will see in the following slides that Europe is strong in terms of growth in in student flows at the moment, even outrunning or outpacing some of the traditional markets. Peter, any comments on the despite all these challenges that student recruitment or student mobility faced over the decades, including all this geopolitics. We can see here in the slide, h five n one, terrorist events, and other other other challenges that came on the way. Student mobility has grown over the decades. So what are your thoughts on this? Why this keeps the interest is still in there from from students? Well, I I think as the world has become more interconnected over the years, it makes a lot of sense that that students want to gain experience ahead of their careers, across borders. And further to that, there there are a lot of young people who are interested in living and working overseas. I mean, I'm I'm an example of that. I've been living outside of my home of Canada for twenty years now. And I I think many people who were in my situation are still very eager to go and travel despite some of the geopolitical issues that we see. And I think what I would I would point out with this graph is that well, you know, the traditional English speaking markets of Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK perhaps are having some geopolitical, challenges of their own at the moment or challenges related to politics on their immigration policies, that doesn't mean that students don't still wanna travel for for work, for for study, for their futures. So for our European colleagues and clients who are on this call today, I think there is a real opportunity. And it it really struck me that that I think as I was at at a a fair in Almaty, Kazakhstan having conversations with students, quite a few came up asking not about those traditional destinations as they would have ten or fifteen years ago when I was first in in Kazakhstan at a fair. But instead, they're asking about opportunities closer to home, be they in Turkey, be they in China, Korea, or in continental Europe. So, yeah, I think that's probably the biggest shift that we're seeing at the moment because of that geopolitical, situation that that that that the world is, experiencing at the moment, but that actually opens up more opportunities for, institutions in non traditional English speaking, at least, destinations. That's very interesting, Peter. And indeed, there was a steady growth in in in students going abroad, but had there was a change in the source markets, in the main markets, and mainly driven by economical needs. Right? We see here in this graph that India will continue to grow faster than some of the world's largest economies, the economy that is growing a lot, and they require skills to continue growing. Right? If the economy is is is booming, is growing, outpacing many countries, they require, of course, talent and bring this from abroad. So this will reflect in the the flow of students as well as we will see in the coming slides. And one of the most exciting advancements in this global student flows from QS is moving beyond country level data into city level student mobility. So as I mentioned before, we are now tracking student flows from over two thousand five hundred cities globally. So this gives us a much more granular understanding of how talent moves globally. This means we can now see not just which countries student come from, but which cities are key talent hubs. So whether that's Mumbai, Lagos, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Berlin, We can track this now. And this combined with QS best student cities ranking, which we publish every year. This allows us to to have from move from a country to country mobility lens to go to a city to city mobility lens. So this is a major evolution for for institutions as well because the students don't make decisions at a national level. When you when you have just to decide where you're going to study, you of course, you're gonna look much more into the the the city's level. And and this also impacts QS on our decision on where to go with our student recruitment events. Let's remember, QS is one of the most traditional student recruitment tools in the world. We visit a number of cities globally, and Sebastian is in here. He is the head of our student recruitment events. Sebastian, if you can mention a bit more about this, how we can we are using this at QS to better map the cities we go, trying to understand which are the ones that the student wants to to study in and how we're promoting this globally. Yeah. Definitely, Leo. This I believe this is a game changer for many universities, especially in the in in the recruitment section where they need to make decisions on where do we where do we go and where our students are coming from, and and what's the cities that are going to be growing, which are the cities that are going to be narrowing down the their students. And what we do with this data is to help us decide which cities we're actually be beacon hosting an event. So, like, considering countries where we host more than of course, some capital cities will always always stand out, but you gave the case of Brazil. It's like global student flows will help us. If we go beyond Rio and Sao Paulo, which which would be the third city if we decide to do another city in in Germany, which would be that city based on on real data where we can know where students are moving from. And and this, again, it's in in with a lot of years in in in this, usually, as you were saying, the statistics and the data you could find was only on the country level. Now you can nail it to the city level and make it much better strategy with this data. Absolutely. This is a game changer for us at QS, and this will allow us to have much more our partners globally to plan for the student recruitment needs. Right? And then we mentioned this briefly before about the change in the in the market and and the interest from students. So this slide here gives us a global overview of how the main destination countries for international students have evolved over the past two decades and how they are projected to perform through the next four, five years. So each mini chart in here shows the the historic and forecasted trends for for the the key destination country. Right? So you can see here in the bus that what stands out here for me is that Europe's major major study destinations, in particular Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, they are projected to grow faster than most of the traditional Anglophone countries. This Peter had mentioned before. So, traditionally, US, UK, Canada, and Australia, we call them the big four. They were really dominant on this space. But Europe is benefiting from the affordability, post post study working options, a rapid expansion of English programs all over the continent as well, increasing the competitiveness of of of European institutions in the global level. So what we can see is more and more interest for alternative markets in contracts to the traditional leaders. United States, for example, or even the United Kingdom show slower and more volatile growth largely due to to policy uncertainty, visa regulations, and and cost pressures as well. So you can see this reflected on on on the right in there where where their confidence intervals include possible decline scenarios of up to six or eight percent. So there is a possibility that if this con this policies and and uncertainties continue, there will be a decline on the number of students going to this traditional destinations. I I believe that's it. Right, Peter? Would like would like to add something on this from a Canadian perspective from I think I'd I'd actually take a slightly different angle at it. This is really, really helpful for, I think, institutions and our our clients to have a a quick look at where their country sort of fits within the the global spectrum when it comes to student flows. But beyond that, there's also opportunities in this chart outside your own borders. And if you're looking very specifically, say, at the United Arab Emirates, eight percent potential growth there. We're seeing that at QSupply. That's the the top growth area for our students who are applying to go study overseas. And at eight percent, you know, that that's that's huge annual growth. So with that in mind, is there an opportunity actually to be setting up campuses in other locations? India is another good example. India is now open as borders. It's possible for foreign institutions to set up campuses in India. Is this something that's worth considering much more closely? So my my real recommendation actually is to look at this through two lenses, you know, the the your your own actual nation of of primary operation, but also is there a transnational education opportunity available to you as well in in some of these other locations, especially if you're in a country that's under a bit more pressure at the moment. Absolutely. And, well, our last slide before really delving into the the European trends. This is just to show what we already discussed a bit, the big four destinations just showing the share of China, India, and the rest of the world. China and and and and China and India because they are main source markets. So here, we're looking at the the big four, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. And together, they still host the majority of the world's international students. Right? This chart shows how their share of students from India, China, and the rest of world has evolved over the the decades. And in the first one, we see students from India. Their numbers have surged dramatically since twenty fifteen, particularly towards United States and Canada, with strong momentum continuing into twenty twenty four. Australia retains a smaller but good share, while the UK's growth has fluctuated and and visa and post study work policies changed. In contracts, Chinese student flows show shown in the middle have stayed the same mainly since twenty nineteen. After years of double digit growth, outbound numbers to all four destinations have leveled up. You can see the equal numbers nearly throughout all the the countries. So and on the right, we can see the rest of the world showing the the diverse diversified growth in in Latin America, Africa, and South Southeast Asia. They are now key contributors as well to the overall volume. You can see the overall volume is really comparable nearly to the to the main market. So this is very interesting analysis of the top four, the big four the the the main markets. But, of course, in here today, we want to talk about continental Europe. Right? And I I start showing our specific folks today, which is Europe, one of the most dynamic regions in international higher education right now. According to our our data, Europe's post pandemic recovery has been really strong with international enrollments expected to grow by around five percent per year through twenty thirty. The growth rate is faster than the traditional Anglophone destinations, which have faced headwinds from visa constraints, rising costs, capacity pressures. European contracts is benefiting from a unique combination of affordability, policy openness, and academic diversity. I believe another key driver in the expansion of is is the expansion of more English thought programs, even traditional markets such as Spain, France that had traditionally, historically, gave a lot of value to their language, encouraged people to come and and learn their languages. Now they have more and more English thought programs. We are also seeing a strong demographic and economic tailwinds. So many European countries are facing aging populations. This demographic challenge, if you rely on a domestic market, if you have programs in the local language, you will struggle in the years to come. Lots of my European our European partners come to us asking for help to diversify the student recruitment strategies to be less relying on domestic students and be more diverse. This gives them more security in the future, of course. And, of course, the is a need in the end of the day because the domestic market in Europe is reducing every year. I'm I'm not sure, Sebastian, Peter, if you'd like to to to mention something on this. The thing that stands out to me here is is when we compare this chart to one several slides back when we looked at it on a global basis of destination countries where I I I think the UAE was was the top compound annual growth rate at about eight percent, at the upper limit. And if you look here at this chart, the opportunities for Europe are much greater than they are on a global basis. You know, we're looking at the potential from India, seventeen percent growth compared to a much lower annual compounded rate that we would have seen on a global basis. So, you know, the now is the chance, I think, for Europe to come in. And I hope I don't I don't have too many of our clients from the the traditional big four English speaking markets listening in here, but but this is your chance, really, as those visa restrictions are coming in, those mobility restrictions are coming in to really steal a bit of that share. And and going back to some of the conversations I've been having with students and and with our counselors around the world, what's very clear is that students now are focusing on more than one potential destination market when they're looking to study. So those students that we see here on this chart, they're probably not just gonna be applying to your, destination, market, but but actually to a number of different ones. So if you can stand stand apart from the others, it it's possible that some real traction could be gained here for longer term growth in in the market. Definitely, Pete. I I hundred percent agree on that. And and, Leo, as as you were showing on your previous slide, this kind of already happened within the big four. So if you analyze the the slide that you just showed on how the market share from Canada grew significantly in in just a few years within those big four, it's like, well, Europe. Why did Canada grow so much? Because it was a more compelling and a more attractive offer for students at that time. And now with all the geopolitical and and policy changes, well, Europe comes, as you were saying, as a much stronger option for students. And as Pete say is saying, the the destination is is changing with students trying to tick, you know, their boxes when they make a decision and say, hey. Do I want to go to a nice city? Do I want to study at a good university with a good reputation? And and ticking those boxes, that opportunity for Europe right now, it's it's it's significant. And and the key is is standing out to make sure that they choose you rather than than than another country. Absolutely. So this is a reality. I've seen every source we check, every expert we speak with, they say the same thing. There's more more diversification in the interest of the students. So it's no longer definitely, it's no longer that big fall as a destination for students. And here we look in this in this slide. We look into the Europe source countries trends. Right? We see here where Europe's international students are coming from, and we see a major realignment underway. So for the first time, India has overtaken China as the largest single source of international students heading to Europe. This is a big change. It's a a change in the top. Right? So this shift is driven by India's demographic strength, of course, expanding middle class, and a strong demand for STEM and technical education. And this demand we will see in Europe as well. Right? We we Europe requires there will be, I believe, a strong competition for STEM talent skills in the future. In areas where European universities, especially Germany, Italy, and France, they have built world class capacity at relatively affordable costs. So for sure, there will be lots of interest from from from Indian students to from a STEM background mainly to to to come to to Europe to progress in their studies. So Chinese student numbers remain, of course, significant, but the growth has stabilized around three to four percent annually. Many Chinese students are now also considering regional hubs. As Peter has has mentioned before, the regional hubs are are closer to home, such as Japan, Malaysia, South Korea. So this offer top tier institutions and and short travel distances as well. So there's this competition that has could have impacted the Chinese numbers coming to Europe. And beyond Asia, we're seeing as well an accelerating rise in mobility from Africa and the Middle East. So countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, and Iran are sending more students to to Europe each year. So they are supported by language ties. We know Morocco. So in Tunisia, there's a francophone community or people that speaks French. This can help to attract them. There's a lower tuition as well in in European countries compared to other destinations. And and so in short, inbound mobility has become far more diverse. Right? Instead of depending on one or two dominant countries, European universities are now drawing talent from across multiple continents. This is a, I believe, a positive trend that is strengths long term resilience and and the global reach. Now we can see here the number of countries where Europe is recruiting from. This reflects our events as well. Right, Sebastian? We we for this year, QS student recruitment events are diversifying the cities we we we're recruiting from, and this is a reflect, I believe, of this as well. The source countries are are our cities in this the case of events, of course, are more diverse. Yeah. I think if if I could just jump in on that one, Leonardo. The the the one that I'm sure some of the clients are staring at here, is number two on the list, is Uzbekistan. I think that's one where if if I was an audience member right now, you think, what? Where did Uzbekistan come from all of a sudden with all all this this large flow? And it's interesting. So I've I've just come from a meeting yesterday with, with one of the ministries in Uzbekistan, and I was in, Tashkent, a month or two ago, meeting with their the presidential, scholarship body. And it's very clear that Uzbekistan is doubling down on on education. Now these numbers might feel a little bit inflated, primarily because, there's a lot of flow with within very near borders with with Uzbekistan within the stands that may be reflected based on the geographies. I'm not sure exactly how they're set. Kazakhstan, of course, straddles the European Asian border as does Turkey, do a number of different areas. So there will be an element of low tuition fee, study migration going on within that very local region that probably accounts for the majority of the two hundred thousand as well as to Russia, I should add. So so I think that's something well worth considering here. If you're in continental Europe, that number may actually seem a little bit overstated. That's not to say that Uzbek students aren't interested in studying for their field, beyond direct neighbors. And it was really interesting to actually feel that where, you know, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred students a year now are being fully funded by the Uzbekistan government to go study at top three hundred universities in the QS rankings. It was also very interesting to be in that meeting and to hear about the importance that they put on the QS World University rankings in decision making on where the the funding should be allocated for those students. But beyond that, there is a real effort within the Uzbekistan Ministry of Education and and a variety of the ministries looking at how to diversify the destinations that, Uzbek students are are going to study overseas too. So I thought I'd just add that because, honestly, that slide for me maybe a year or two ago would have really surprised me, but I've been very fortunate with my time here at QS where we do engage with so many different governments to actually get a little bit more firsthand experience on on this particular case. Adding to that beat and and just bringing a little bit of perspective as well from from Latin America, and I see I'm glad to see Brazil there in a and then down in the ranking, but still big. And and one of the things that's coming out probably soon is is a new, also, government system to encourage the students to study overseas, especially focused on SDGs, and that's where many European universities are leading into in into that. So also an opportunity to grow within Latin America. And I'm sure other countries in in Latin America are within growing numbers as well. Of course, population wise, they are much smaller than some of the countries there, so that's why they don't show up in the but in they don't show up in the top of the ranking. But in terms of diversification, of the student population, especially in with language ties and cultural ties for some of the destinations like Spain, Italy, there's gonna be definitely a a growth in numbers there. And and as well with, as you were saying, Leo, on on the francophone countries, especially in in in Africa, in North Africa and sub Saharan Africa as well, like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon. Those those are are are source markets that that definitely worth looking into and and that I'm I'm sure that this ranking will keep moving within the the the next years as different policies in different countries change as Pete was saying with us with Uzbekistan. Thank you very much indeed, Pete. A very good point about the I mean, Eurasia region. We have the QS Eurasia conference this month in Uzbekistan, and and we're gonna have the minister of education from Uzbekistan, from Kazakhstan, from Azerbaijan. Three minister of minister of education will be joining our conference. There are opportunities of state funded scholarships for for students. They want to to equip their their youth with the right skills. So I believe this also helps or contributes to the surge of this Eurasia markets interested in studying in Europe. And as well, we are gonna be adding events in this region. Right, Sebastian? For fall twenty twenty six. We will be visiting more cities in Eurasia region, giving all this demand, right, this desire to to come study in in Europe. And we will go check now all these markets in more details, right, how each one of the source regions are growing interest in studying in Europe. So in here, we start, of course, with the largest one, the one that has overtaken China in the the number one position. So here, we can see the highlights of the the most important shift in international education today, the rise of India as Europe's leading source of international students. So India has now surpassed China, as we mentioned before, as a top origin of the students coming to Europe, and the pace of growth continues to accelerate. So it's not only came to the first position, but the growth is is is growing as well. So there are, of course, several factors in here. Some of them will be the demographic momentum, as I mentioned, the need, demand for STEM programs, STEM talent and skills to keep driving India's economy to keep growing. And these big institutions, these renowned institutions, if anyone looks at QS subject rankings, we'll see STEM programs in Europe are world class institutions in here with an affordable price. Right? We have the example of the Beethoven initiative that attended QS events promoting the Dutch STEM programs and top institutions to bring these talents to to Europe. So this is a reflect of of all this. Right? These are markets that QS also visit with our events. Right, Sebastian? We have a series of events in India and Pakistan. How do you see these markets and how we can help our European clients to to to improve their student recruitment strategy in India? Definitely. India is one of the, as as you say, the top growing market, and and we visit now in in about a month, I will be visiting our events and traveling with our events. We're visiting seven cities throughout India from Kolkata to Hyderabad, passing, of course, through the main cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, as well Chennai. So these sometimes we we put India within the same bucket, but India within India is extremely diverse in in terms of culture, language, and and religion. So it's it's important that when you focus on India, you just don't focus on Delhi and and Mumbai because those are very big markets, but it's just choose choose cities. And so a full strategy within India will consider different cities and and different regions to try to get that growth from the different different states and and different cities within India. And it's a tour that we do twice a year with our discover masters and discover MBA events with now in we we're having about fifty universities joining. So it's quite a big tour with with lots of universities joining and and tapping into those key students and key student markets. Yeah. It's it's very, really interesting. I'm seeing more and more European continental Europe, European partners of of US going to India and then having to develop a new strategy. It is a different market than the markets they normally recruit from in Europe or in Latin America, are more traditional for European continental European clients. It requires a different type of of strategy as well. We can we're gonna give some some tips and and recommendations on how to develop a robust international global strategy for student recruitment towards the end of of the of this presentation. But it's really nowadays, a truly robust student recruitment strategy needs to include India if you are an European institution. There is no doubt about that. Well, the the market that used to be the first one and and then now has continued with a strong number of of students. It remains one of the largest the largest east eastern Asia this market for for Europe, of course. There's a high demand in in arts, fashion, and design programs. But now I believe these students are looking into other markets as well. I think that's what explains, right, the the the decline in the growth of China and then being overtaken by by China. Right, Peter? That's what you mentioned before. Right? Modern hub destinations close to China are competing against Europe. Right? What what can European institutions do to to to respond to this? I think Europe still remains a very, very compelling study destination for Asian students. And, you know, having lived and worked in Asia now for fifteen years, eight years in Thailand and seven now in Taiwan, I I can say without a doubt that there will always be students who are looking for a very different cultural experience and a very different education experience. So the education systems here in Asia, yeah, there's there's gonna be a lot of demand for a Chinese student to go study in Korea, for instance, or, as we're seeing Malaysia, Singapore becoming very, very, key destinations, partly because education systems and cultures are similar. But there's also that student who really does want that slightly more, challenging cultural and education experience that they get from from, studying in continental Europe and and the culture that comes with it and the travel experience and all the the the different aspects of what it takes to be out of your comfort zone, that will help you with your career in the future, that will be enjoyable, that will give you really interesting, travel experiences that you might not, you know, get the same way if if you're studying a bit more close to home. So so, yeah, I think well well, absolutely, there's an element of increased competition locally. I think that's taking a different piece of the demand, whereas that more traditional demand that we've seen in studying at, Western universities for lack of a better term, I think that still exists. And and we'll continue to grow, just not at that growth rate that we're seeing from other, other other source markets. Yeah. I I think that that says it really, Leonardo. Very interesting. And and on one side, you have China reducing its pace of growth because of the competition close to China. And and but there's another market here that, let's say, is quickly becoming one of the most promising regions for European universities. This is Africa. Right? The absolute numbers are still smaller than than Asia numbers, of course, but the growth rate of African students coming to Europe, according to our data, is accelerating really sharply. Right? Especially North Africa, countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, they have, of course, historical connections with Europe, with France, with Spain as well. Morocco's part of Morocco's part I speak Spanish, of course. So these relationships continue to play a role in mobility decisions. But beyond North Africa, we're seeing increased interest from sub Saharan African countries, particularly Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana as the students look for more affordable, high quality education. So these markets, Nigeria, Kenya, and sub Saharan Africa, traditionally, historically, with US, they they look at more into UK, a lot of UK and US, but now we see this changing focus towards other European countries. So, of course, there are some reasons to to explain this. The European Union initiatives such as the the Focus Africa and the the regional scholarships such as the ASMOS plus that goes beyond European countries. Design encouraging academic cooperation, mobility between Africa and in European institutions will help, of course, the overall number of students coming. So in essence here, Africa is evolving from an emerging source market into strategic growth in the region for for for Europe. And and then, Sebastian, we are we are present there as well. Right? We have events in in in in late well, we have a series of events in Africa coming up now in spring and for sure in fall twenty twenty six as well. Yeah. We're we're present right now in mostly in Sub Saharan Africa doing Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya. And, also, we're trying we're introducing Kampala as a new city for our spring schedule, growing in in mostly that English speaking Africa. But as as you note here, and it's very important, there's also a tremendous growth in North Africa where we will be introducing soon into our series of events where many students, though they have cultural ties and they do speak French as the main language, they also speak Arabic. They they are Arabic speakers as their mother tongue in in most of these countries. Yes. They do learn French at school, and it might be easier to study in French, but that not doesn't necessarily mean that they're looking for a a French speaking destination as the first one. Also, an interesting country that you see there, Cameroon, where you have part of the population that that has English as their their native language. So that that reality, as you were saying, on English taught programs, in more European universities and also the reality within many European countries like Belgium, like Switzerland, where you have multilingual people and and and multilingual societies helps a lot with with many of these cultural ties on on living and and studying in different languages within the same region. So definitely Africa is is in a strategic market to focus as as you were saying. Absolutely. Yeah. Going beyond North Africa to this new English speaking sub Saharan country is gonna be really a change for the European industry. Leonardo just add on to that somewhat since I've had a lot of experience in West Africa specifically. I think one piece that's really important for our clients to be aware of is that the level of flexibility in West African students in particular when it comes to study destination is very high. So, you know, this this isn't Taiwan or Thailand where, you know, a student will have grown up thinking, I'm going to the UK if I'm Thai or I'm going to the US if I'm, you know, Taiwanese. Those were very clear experiences that I had in in these places that I've lived. But very interestingly, working in West Africa for, you know, those five years, what was very evident was that a student in West Africa was open minded. They were very interested in whatever options are available to them that might suit their long term study goals and potentially migration goals, but many students, of course, majority of students going back, to their their home countries after. What they're looking for really is is an experience, beyond just rankings as well. So the sensitivity around rankings in in West Africa was much, much lower than many other parts of the world where where where, you know, I I have experience. And what they're looking for is a visa system that makes sense, tuition fees that makes sense to them as well, the ability to work, during their studies and and after their studies too, and just a really solid career progression opportunity at the end of it. So, you know, there there's a huge opportunity in West Africa where there's hundreds and hundreds of millions of students who are very, very keen to go study overseas. And if it's possible to make the financial side of it work, they they want that experience, in in a way that you you don't find in many other places in the world. So, you know, it's a place very close to my heart. I really enjoyed my time working out in West Africa. I'm so pleased that we have our offices there with QS Supply as well and that we run our events there. And, you know, I I would strongly encourage, our our clients to take a very close look, at Sub Saharan Africa and and West Africa in particular. Thank you, Peter. That's very interesting. So the the employability and the experience are even more important than the reputation and the rankings. This is key information for for our partners, and and I'm I'm sure there will be more interest over the next years for European institutions to recruit from these markets that are, let's say, a bit overlooked at the moment, but there is clearly an opportunity here. Well, then you move to another one that is being increasing in importance for for for Europe, which is the Middle East. It has become really important source in the region. We are observing here consist consistent growth in outbound mobility from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and and Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well. So the the factors in here that may be contributing to this are students motivated by political instability in the region and the rising costs of education in home countries as well. At the same time, the European destinations that are viewed as offering strong academic quality and and cultural proximity to to these countries, of course, especially for Mediterranean and Francophone students again, of course. So there is a stand in health sciences programs are particularly popular in in the Middle East, aligned with their government investment priorities too and employability goals. So fields such as medicine, engineering, data science, of course, are among the top ones in demand. So this demand is further reinforced by the scholarship schemes, really, traditionally in the region as well, and bilateral agreements. For example, the Erasmus plus also reached the Middle East. So overall, Europe's appeal in the Middle East is a combination of the the reputation of the institutions, including and adding to this affordability as well. And and these dimensions will continue to strengthen its position in the region through at twenty thirty. Well, I would like to jump in now to one of the traditional markets from for European, and we're going out to do two traditional markets. And and, of course, they don't grow the same as other regions at the moment. The tradition has been like this. These are con continents that speak European languages, countries that are cons that are made of European immigrants in its majority. Like like, I'm Brazilian, Sebastian in Argentina, a patient from Canada. These contents we speak about now the Americas. Right? Starting with Latin America, they speak European language. They're made of mostly European immigrants. So Latin America continues to show sustainable growth as a source. As you would expect, we haven't seen many countries in the main source list, but this is because we consider the whole Europe. But if you take countries such as Spain, Portugal, even France and Germany, you see that Latin America contributes a lot. For them, the strongest contributors in the region are Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru. And there's a growing participation of also from Brazil and Chile. This is in terms of growth. Of course, Brazil is the largest in population. We'll have more students. So, of course, as I mentioned just now, the culture cultural and linguistic ties play a big role in here. All these countries, they speak European languages. Erasmus plus also reached these countries, and the European countries have already many student recruitment strategies differently than Western Africa, sub Saharan Africa, and other regions. Asia, the European universities need to or European business schools, including they need to to develop more strategy in Latin America. Traditionally, they have strong ties and student recruitment and networks built. Sebastian, you are in there in Latin America. You know this market better than anyone at US. So what are your views for for the future of this market in terms of the European student recruitment strategies? Definitely, it's a key market to keep focuses to keep focusing, especially if you're in Spanish, French, Italian university, Portuguese university within where all the cultural ties as you were mentioning. And, also, likewise, Pete was saying with Africa, usually, Latin American students are are, focused into into the pricing and affordability part of. And and whenever you you have a compelling offer that that ticks all the boxes like Europe is doing now with easy access, it it was, for example, a game changer a few years ago when they removed the the Schengen visa for Colombia and Ecuador. Previously, Colombians were limited to travel to many countries, and they needed visas to go everywhere. So now with easier access to to to visas with better, affordable universities in in improved cultural ties that creates really a unique market that is set to grow, definitely. And and one of the one of the cities talk going back to the beginning and talking about the city to city level that it's not here but should be here that I am seeing very important grow is actually Miami. So in the Americas, but in a way, Miami is the capital of of Latin America. And that's the city that we will be going with events next year where especially for masters and for MBAs, many of those students living in Miami will will definitely look at Europe or especially Spain as well while they they already speak Spanish. And and we need to consider Miami as part of Latin America right now even though it's in the US. So, definitely, Latin American students have that that great great growth with with Europe as as, I believe, Africa with the smaller numbers, but definitely great growth from Latin America coming to Europe. Yes. This is of them as well. They have European citizenships in many cases. There are many Brazilians that hold and Argentinas that hold Italian passport, for example. So just you as examples of us. So, yes, that being traditional market for for European institutions is very important. We have a series of events in in Latin America continue will continue to be a strong market for us. Well, moving on, we go to Southeast Asia, which is another region showing resilience in outbound growth towards Europe. The region is ex has an expanding middle class, rising incoming levels, strong cultural emphasis, on education, and are these are key drivers for for this momentum. Right? Vietnam now stands out as the largest source country from Southeast Asia to Europe. The students from the country are increasingly looking beyond traditional destinations such as, as we spoke before many times, US and Australia, and finding strong value in continental Europe universities, especially France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Malaysia, though, is in a unique position. It's not just a source, but also an emerging regional educational hub. As we mentioned before, Chinese students in the region, recruiting in the region. So Malaysian universities are attracting international students from across Asia, the Middle East as well. So this could gradually reduce Malaysia's own outbound numbers to Europe. However, partnerships between Malaysia and European institutions remain very active across the region. So nearby hubs as well, other hubs in Asia, Peter mentioned about them. Japan, South Korea, they're offering high quality English talk programs with affordable tuition. So these are creating more options for this market. So this is gonna be a bit more challenging for the European institutions. Right, Peter? How to compete with these regional hubs in there? So no longer no more not only now the the competition from USA and and Canada and the UK, but now regional hubs as well competing. Yeah. Well, I I think the the real key here is if you look specifically at economic growth and demographics. So, you're you're noticing Thailand, for instance, stagnated significantly. That's because population growth stopped in Thailand quite some time ago now, whereas in Vietnam, it continued, Indonesia continued. So, that coupled with absolutely rapid economic growth in those two markets is, I think, what we're seeing here with, with these these, rocket shaped projections for for both those countries. It's also interesting to know that Vietnam on a per capita basis spends more than almost any other country in the world on education, private education. So, if you walk down the streets of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, and to be fair, Jakarta as well and Surabaya, you'll see so many different private education, prep schools, getting students ready for for that overseas education in a way that we aren't accustomed to in, European countries. So I I think that's where we're sort of seeing this this shift here at the the rapid economic growth, specifically in Vietnam and Indonesia, whereas more stagnating growth economically in Malaysia, Philippines, the Thailand. I mean, still growing, but but not at those same rates, combined with the demographic growth. So how to compete? Yeah. I think the the reality is that that still the vast majority of students from Vietnam and Indonesia are traveling locally to study. This is only a a fraction of of the overall. So to present a compelling option for those students that could be both financial in nature for more price sensitive students or rankings focused because those markets really do care about rankings. Usually accompanied with a a decent scholarship for top, academic students, that's really how to make the difference in in that space. Ultimately, I think, you know, a family in Vietnam or Indonesia, for instance, is is likely to be swayed by a university further afield with a higher ranking if the proposition is, is is there. There there's certainly a sensitivity when it comes to rep reputation and ranking there. But also a study experience, and a more international experience than perhaps might be available closer to home. That that's how I'd be pitching it if if I was a a client based in in continental Europe anyway. Thank you very much, Peter. Exactly. The the the culture experience, this is gonna be a unique selling point for the Europeans for sure. And look for the students that consider this as as something important for them. Well, then we go to to to an interesting region as well with ties. Of course, they speak European languages. They they are a country of mainly European immigrants. There's growth. The number of American students that choose Europe, and I believe Europe is the main destination for for students that decide to go overseas for their studies. This is your region. Right? You're Canadian. These are the two markets. I explore the most European country outside Europe? What can you say about these two markets? So I what what I would say here is that, you're seeing a lot of study abroad, I think, in this chart. So it's it's not just about postgraduate or undergraduate studies. It's a one year program to go get an experience of living in Paris or Berlin or or elsewhere. Hopefully, you know, a more diverse series of of destination countries than it used to be. Both the United States and Canada, though, their their number one destination markets are each other and the UK. So, ultimately, that's what you're up against there is is, that muscle memory, I guess, from those markets to go to the more traditional places. The number of Americans you see studying at McGill University in Montreal is huge. The number of Americans you see studying at St. Andrew's University in Scotland is also huge. Edinburgh, same sort of thing. So trying to think how to compete perhaps in in those spaces would be worthwhile. The one other piece of advice I'd offer is to look at Canada in particular. Canada's restricted programs where there's not enough capacity. So things like optometry, pharm pharmacology, law, these traditionally are subject areas where if there's a decent fit for that Canadian student, they're very open to going to study for their field because there's a restriction on the number of places available at home. So perhaps there's a niche available there, but it's a relatively small niche. It's gonna be in very specific subject areas. With the US, I think there's yeah. Geopolitically, it's an interesting time, in in the US. So perhaps there's some, there's some potential there to reach out to certain students who are looking for more global experience outside their home country. Again, that's that's probably what I'd be doing if I was if if I was sitting in Berlin, Paris, or Zagreb at the moment. Absolutely. But, you know, it's true. And I I had over the years positive feedback from European institutions going to Canada, first time in the recruitment in Canada, Toronto event and Morehouse event are the ones in North America that are most successful for our European clients traditionally. I'll just add, Sebastian. I think we've just had our most successful ever events in Canada, and we're actually looking at expanding into new cities because they were so so successful. So perhaps you could add just a bit of flavor there on on Canada specifically. We we got excellent events, for example, in Calgary and Vancouver, with Calgary being a city that we had not been in in several years, and we're actually thinking on adding Edmonton in in Alberta as well with this reality that that Pete was just Canada is a market that it's it's gonna be growing definitely. And the cultural ties and the the the affordability and and the way that reputation is seen as well within European universities is definitely gonna be interesting interesting in in Canada. Absolutely. Canada is the market in North America to start if you're you're starting a recruitment in North America. It's the most European country outside Europe as the European Union calls it. Right? So we go to the last source market, of course, Europe itself, Right? Attracts a growing number of there's their own mobility. Of course, most of it driven by Erasmus program, their mobility, the largest program, mobility program in the world. It is a new European initiative, but we're also seeing strong outbound mobility supported by agreements between countries and universities. So the leading sending countries remain Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, reflecting, of course, the size of their student populations and their universities' global partnerships. The main factor shaping the student choices include the geographic proximity. As Peter mentioned as well, you can take a train easily and go to one country to the other, visit your family quite easily as well. All of all this accessibility is supported by the European integrated credit transfer and recognition systems, so it's easy to to get enrolled in in different programs. There is a rise in virtual and hybrid mobility as well accelerated by the pandemic now which is now supplementing physical mobility too. So altogether, Europe Outbound Mobility reinforces its roles as a global education connector, sending and receiving talent in equal measure and strengthening academic diplomacy worldwide. This is why, Sebastian, we have an important European tour of events, and and it remains the easiest country for our European partners to recruit from. Yeah. Definitely. And events in Europe, actually, we just finished our tour tour in Europe that started September twenty fifth and finished in in in the end of October. So more than a month all the way from Turkey and also including, as as Pete was saying, Tashkent, Anastana, Almaty, Kazakhstan, and and and Uzbekistan, so also including some of Central Asia. And it's definitely great mobility within Europe as you were saying accessibility, easy trains, cheap flights, and being closer to home is is definitely the the mobility within Europe is gonna be consistent and and keep growing. But sometimes some also, some European students want to get a little bit of of, but the the biggest majority will be will be within Europe indeed. Absolutely. So much diversity, top institutions in Europe. So, well, we we close here with these insights for universities and business schools talk saying that first, diversification is absolutely essential. Right? The era of depending on one or two dominant source countries such as China or this is over, right, institutions. They need to build a balanced pipeline across different continents. Secondly, affordability and employability, as Peter mentioned, they have become a decisive factor in insurance choice. So they look into the experience, into the the employability in the future of their career. As well, this means that institutions must clearly communicate the value proposition alongside work and the tuition costs and scholarships opportunities, of course. But it's more and more important than the graduate outcome and the work opportunities. So for this, of course, the skills in the curriculum are really important. So collaboration is key as well. University needs to work together, find out strategic partnerships within Europe and internationally to increase their reputation globally. And then it is, of course, with more reputation, more recognition, it would be easier for you to recruit students and and and forth, of course, data and insights should drive your your strategy. Tools like this, it shouldn't the the global student flows from QS, the international student service are here to help you. If you want further tailored data, you can just contact us, and we're happy to discuss about it. So just to sum up, Europe must continue to invest in international student experience, right, from an integration and employability support, long term alumni engagement that is what transforms short term enrollment success into a lasting reputation and global influence. Pete, Sebastian, any any closing words? Any final comments? Oh, just to say, come have a chat if, if we can help. I think, you know, it's I I've been with QS now for just under a year, and I'm always amazed on a daily basis by just how many experts we have, in strategy, but also the kinds of tools that we offer, to help out universities. So, you know, Leonardo here is is your go to guy, I think. And, just wanna say a big thank you as well, Leonardo, for, bringing together, this group of great clients for us to speak to you today. Thanks very much. Yeah. Likewise for me, Leo. Thank you again for for this webinar. And to all all of our of of our partners is we're here to help you, and with these datasets and with the insights that QS can offer, it's it's just, I'm I'm just amazed on on the level of strategy we can we can help, determine with with some of these key data points and looking into these scenarios for twenty thirty. So thank you again, Leonardo. Absolutely. Thank you, Sebastian. Thank you, Peter. Thank you who have watched this, this presentation. You can download the full report and explore more insights on QS.com. And, of course, our teams are always available to discuss tailored strategies or data partnerships. Please do contact me. Thank you.