The bar chart illustrates how many international students applied to European universities over a four-year period.
Overall, the number of Chinese students witnessed a gradual drop, and a figure for Russian applicants remained unchanged. By contrast, the total of US and Japan applicants rose noticeably throughout the period. Moreover, students from the US and China stood out among their counterparts.
In terms of the downward trends, Chinese students accounted for the largest number of applicants, at around a staggering 27,000 at the beginning. This figure saw a significant drop to approximately 18,000 over the next three years, followed by a further decline to exactly 15,000, almost half of its initial level, by the end of the period. In 2004, a mere 3000 foreign students from Russia applied to European universities. Although there were some minor fluctuations, the number of Russian candidates stayed at its starting level, making them the lowest group of applicants
In contrast to the declining trends, the number of US applicants started at around 14,000. Increasing relatively during the next years, this figure reached a parity with the levels Chinese students showed in their first two years and became dominant among other foreign applicants, by the end of the period. Despite showing relatively lower figures, Japanese students also followed a similar pattern. Starting at around 6000, the total of applicants from Japan remained stable at above its initial level in three subsequent years, before an increase to almost 10,000 by the end of the timeframe.