the social and political environment and competition from other countries universities according to a nafsa report from 2020we live in danger of losing talent said ravi shankar assistant vice provost and director of the international services office at the university of rochester he said western countries including canada and the united kingdom as well as china are the top competitors for international studentsus universities have benefited from the economic contribution from large international student bodies as they often pay full tuition and help finance scholarshipsadditionally international students contribute to local economies when renting offcampus apartments and patronizing businesses however other western countries make it easier for international students to study therei have been to school in the uk owusu said adding i didnt go through the stress of seeking for an interviewus colleges and universities received 13 more applications for fall 2021 from international students compared to the year prior according to data taken from the common app an admission application more than one million students use to apply to colleges annually earlier this year most of the top socalled sending countries showed increases with the notable exception of china according to banksadvocates give the biden administration credit for trying to give international students more certaintyi think that they are trying to message being a more welcoming united states said sarah spreitzer director of government relations at the american council on educationsuwade pe than a rising sophomore at the savannah college of art and design considers herself lucky to have secured an appointment in june at the us embassy in yangon myanmarwhen she arrived at the shortstaffed embassy she waited almost three hours for her 10minute interview pe than believes the interview could have been conducted months prior via video teleconferencewhen they shut down the interviews the students have everything else the visa application done the passports valid but its just that one interview thats keeping everyone from going to the states pe than said