According to the U.S. State Department, international students contribute more than $30 billion U.S. dollars to the economy annually.
The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities had the highest rate of growth in 35 years, increasing by 10% to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014-15 academic year.
This strong growth confirms that the United States remains the destination of choice in higher education. The U.S. hosts more of the world’s 4.5 million globally mobile college and university students than any other country in the world, almost double the number hosted by the United Kingdom, the second leading host country.
China is the single largest contributor to this growth, with close to 30% of the international student populations studying at educational destinations outside China.
We have long recognized the importance of the international student population to U.S. colleges and universities, as well as the critical role China plays in supplying international students studying in the United States. In September 2015 we introduced a complete Chinese version of College Factual hosted in Beijing to begin serving Chinese parents and students with the deepest richest resource of data and insights about U.S. colleges and universities on the planet.
Today we announce our collaboration with 51offer, a leading firm in China disrupting the study abroadmarket in China.
51offer provides advice and application assistance to Chinese parents and students assisting them to make smart decisions about higher education. They have built out a deep presence in the U.K and Australia, providing more than 10,000 students with application assistance in the 2015-15 academic year.
We will work with 51offer on their market entry into the United States. Our beliefs and values on higher education are in very close alignment, as well as our belief in the value of high quality data and insights to drive better decision making, better outcomes, and better lives, for students.
51offer is financed with over U.S. $50 million of venture capital provided by NEA Investors, Yongjin Group, and the Starr Group from China. We are excited to partner with them in helping bring qualified Chinese students to the right U.S. college for them.