The bar chart illustrates how many students from different nations attended universities in a particular European country from 2004 to 2008.
Overall, the number of applications from China decreased while the figures for Japan, USA and Russia experienced upward trends, with Japan’s becoming highest by the end of the period. Notably, Russian applicant numbers remained relatively low throughout the period examined.
In 2004, there were about 27,000 Chinese university students pursuing education in Europe, a figure that far exceeded those from other countries. However, this number gradually dropped to roughly 18,000 in the two years 2006 and 2007 and then hit a low of 15,000 in 2008. By contrast, starting at 13,000 students, the number of those from Japan constantly rose, peaking at about 24,000 four years later.
A similar trend was observed for the USA and Russia students with the starting numbers being 6,000 and a mere 2,000 respectively. These figures went up slightly to 10,000 and 3,000 in 2008, despite a minor dip in 2005.