The Market Monitor Digest (week 27/2025)
We're glad to bring you the key highlights from this week’s industry news. Thanks to the research from the BONARD Market Monitor team, you’re always in step with the latest market trends.
International Education
Japan: ISI Japanese Language School expands with acquisition and new campus
By Study Travel, June 30, 2025
WEWORLD Group, the parent company of ISI Japanese Language School, has announced the acquisition of another Japanese language provider and the opening of a new centre in Tokyo. Earlier this year, WEWORLD Group acquired the Japanese language school division from Tokyo Oji Foreign Language Institute, with the deal due to complete at the end of June.
Norway: Non-EU fee changes ‘not enough to bring students back to Norway’
By Times Higher Education, June 29, 2025
Norway introduced mandatory tuition fees for students from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland at the start of the 2023-24 academic year, under the Centre Party higher education minister Ola Borten Moe, ending a longstanding principle of free education in the country. The number of new students from outside the EEA and Switzerland subsequently dropped by about 80 per cent.
Australia: Cost of Australian student visa jumps to AUD$2,000
By The PIE News, July 01, 2025
Effective July 1, the Australian government has increased the student visa application fee to AUD$2,000. The move follows an 125% fee increase implemented just one year earlier, from AUD$710 to AUD$1,600 in July. The ELICOS sector has been particularly affected by the visa fee increases, with stakeholders noting that students looking to enrol in shorter courses are less willing to pay the higher costs. As a result of the 2024 visa fee hike, ELICOS providers experienced a 50% decline in English language enrolments across the board.
India: Can India entice more international students to its universities?
By Times Higher Education, July 01, 2025
Prospective international students still appear to have limited interest in studying in India despite policymakers’ attempts to encourage institutions to focus on recruiting from abroad. India’s flagship National Education Policy (NEP), published in 2020, includes a focus on establishing India as an international education hub and encouraging foreigners to study in the country.
South Korea: Foreign students eager to stay, work in South Korea
By Asia News Network, July 02, 2025
Seven out of 10 international students in South Korea want to work and settle in the country, a new survey showed Tuesday, as Korean companies step up efforts to recruit foreign talent. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said 71 percent of international students surveyed in its recent Global Talent Fair expressed interest in working and living in Korea.
UAE: Dubai strengthens its position as a global higher education destination with 3 new international universities set to open campuses
By Government of Dubai Media Office, July 02, 2025
Three new international universities are set to open campuses in Dubai during the 2025-26 academic year. The universities confirmed to begin operations include the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad from India, the American University of Beirut from Lebanon, and Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences from Saudi Arabia.
Australia: Murdoch ‘turning the corner’ on domestic enrolments
By Times Higher Education, July 03, 2025
Getting the student profile right is a tricky business, university admits, after international student numbers rise high above 40 per cent target. Murdoch’s overseas proportion of equivalent full-time enrolments soared from 37 per cent in 2021 to 60 per cent in 2024, making it easily the “most vulnerable” Western Australian university to “changes in the market for international students.
Global: How to stem the decline in value of an overseas education
By University World News, July 02, 2025
As global economies strain under the pressure of technological disruption, demographic shifts and tightening job markets, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: while an overseas education used to almost guarantee stronger employment outcomes for international graduates returning home, that advantage is being slowly eroded.
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