As the US makes it harder for universities to attract foreign students, other countries are working to enroll more of them; this could be detrimental to the nation’s long-term innovation, start-up investment, and output-capacity.
Evidence that the US is losing its luster to competitors comes from comparative changes in international student numbers. Although the U.S. retains the most international students across undergraduate and graduate education as a gross total, within the period 2016-8 this figure grew by only 4.9% in this period, lagging behind both Canada (which increased 39.5% in this period) and Australia (which increased by 25.5%)