This bar chart illustrates the number of international applicants who apply to European universities from 2004 to 2008. The data highlights the fluctuation of student numbers over the years, and categorized by their country of origin.
First, the countries that are most attracted by European studies are China and America, during these years.
In 2004, China’s proportion was way over 25,000 applicants, surpassing the 20,000 American applications. However, Chinese applications steadily declined over the years, reaching just 15,000 in 2008. In contrast, the number of American applicants showed minor fluctuations but remained relatively stable throughout until 2008, where it faced a sharp increase.
On the opposite, Japanese students have faced a dramatic increase, passing from 5,000 in 4 years. Russia has also seen its native students move to Europe more and more between 2004 and 2007, but this rise has been stopped in 2008, leading them to be the lowest among all the countries—with less than 5,000 traveling students.