Background

This EMN Inform summarises the main findings of the EMN Ad-Hoc Query (AHQ) on Retaining third-country national students.

The AHQ gathered existing evidence on policies and practices of student retention in the EU, and was also built on the ‘EMN Synthesis Report –Immigration of International Students to the EU.

Inform: some findings

• The number of international students in the EU has been rising steadily within the last years; however, the percentage of graduates choosing to stay in the EU after the end of their studies remains relatively low.
• In general, Member States are increasingly interested in incorporating former international students into their labour markets, and have changed their national immigration laws to incentivise their stay (e.g. lowered salary requirements and a permit to stay for the purpose of job searching or starting a business).
• With a view to preventing misuse of the residence permits granted, the majority of Member States require third-country national to prove that the permit is used for its main purpose.
• The majority of Member States do not have a National Strategy for third-country national student retention, nor a national coordinating body for this strategy. Instead, several actors are usually involved, such as the Ministries of Interior and higher education institutions.