The universities with the highest percentage of international students 2024

Explore the universities with the highest percentage of international students based on data collected by Times Higher Education

May 22 2024

Top 10 universities with the highest percentage of international students 2024

Scroll down to see the full table

International student rank 2024	University	Country/region	Percentage of international students
1	Macau University of Science and Technology	Macao	91.6%
2	Near East University	Northern Cyprus	86.4%
3	Constructor University	Germany	83.2%
4	Eastern Mediterranean University	Northern Cyprus	74.8%
5	American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	73.7%
6	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom	71.8%
7	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	67.2%
8	Università della Svizzera italiana	Switzerland	66.8%
9	RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences	Ireland	66.6%
10	University of Bedfordshire	United Kingdom	64.2%

The higher education world is getting smaller as more and more people choose to study abroad. Students want universities to provide an international experience, the opportunity to study alongside people from all over the world, and a truly global community in which to study.

As part of the data collected for the World University Rankings 2024, Times Higher Education asks all institutions to provide figures on their percentage of international students. Using this data, THE has compiled a list of the top 200 universities with the highest percentage of international students.

In this table, and across our rankings, international students are defined as those who are studying in a different country to the country or region they usually live in.

Macau University of Science and Technology is in first place, with nearly 92 per cent international students, while Near East University takes second place.

Countries represented in the top 20 include the UAE, UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

Twenty universities from London feature in the top 200, making it one of the most represented cities in the ranking. In fact, the UK as a whole was the most represented country, with 64 universities in the top 200, compared with 18 from the US and 16 in Australia.

The top five universities with the highest percentage of international students 2024

Scroll down to see the top 200.

1. Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao

Macau University of Science and Technology is a relatively young university, having been established in 2000.

The university offers courses in areas that include social sciences, sciences, law, management, business, medicine, pharmacy, tourism, art, communication and languages.

To reflect its international student cohort, the university teaches in English, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.

The institution has established partnerships with more than 200 institutions in Europe, America, Australia, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to facilitate student and staff exchange programmes.

2. Near East University, Northern Cyprus

Near East University is the largest university in Northern Cyprus. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas including architecture, dentistry, fine arts, engineering, veterinary science, law, maritime studies and performing arts.

The university’s international student office assists with applications and organises student events on campus.

Students from more than 100 nationalities are enrolled at the university.

3. Constructor University, Germany

Constructor University is located in Bremen, Germany.

Most of its courses are taught in English.

Students come from more than 110 countries, including India, Nepal, the US, Albania, Pakistan, Morocco and China. The university also has more than 120 partnerships with other institutions around the world.

Students are able to choose their own programme of study from the course catalogue or opt for a preselected study track.

4. Eastern Mediterranean University, Northern Cyprus

Eastern Mediterranean University is the second university from Northern Cyprus to feature in the top five.

The main languages of instruction at the university are Turkish and English.

The institution organises student exchange programmes in 13 countries including the US, Canada, Italy, Austria, South Korea and China.

International students are able to apply for 50 per cent and 25 per cent scholarships.

5. American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

The American University of Sharjah is a relatively small institution with just over 5,000 students, and 74 per cent of this student body is international. Some 99 countries are represented on campus, and some of the main home countries of these students are Egypt, Jordan and India.

English is the main teaching language.

The university is a member of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities, an organisation that delivers higher education based on the American liberal arts model outside the US.

Every year the university’s international studies department organises the annual Model United Nations high school and university conference.

The top 200 universities for international students 2024

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2024 profile

International student rank 2024	University	Country/region	Percentage of international students
1	Macau University of Science and Technology	Macao	91.6%
2	Near East University	Northern Cyprus	86.4%
3	Constructor University	Germany	83.2%
4	Eastern Mediterranean University	Northern Cyprus	74.8%
5	American University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	73.7%
6	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom	71.8%
7	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	67.2%
8	Università della Svizzera italiana	Switzerland	66.8%
9	RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences	Ireland	66.6%
10	University of Bedfordshire	United Kingdom	64.2%
11	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland	64.0%
12	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	61.3%
13	UCL	United Kingdom	61.1%
14	Abu Dhabi University	United Arab Emirates	59.9%
15	Maastricht University	Netherlands	57.0%
16	Hong Kong Baptist University	Hong Kong	54.7%
17	University of Nicosia	Cyprus	54.3%
18	King’s College London	United Kingdom	52.6%
19	University of East London	United Kingdom	51.9%
20	University of Sydney	Australia	50.7%
21	University of Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	50.5%
22	Middlesex University	United Kingdom	49.6%
23	University of Luxembourg	Luxembourg	49.2%
24	University of Westminster	United Kingdom	48.4%
25	Australian National University	Australia	48.2%
26	Coventry University	United Kingdom	47.8%
27	University of Innsbruck	Austria	47.5%
28	University of Melbourne	Australia	46.7%
29	University of Greenwich	United Kingdom	46.0%
30	Auckland University of Technology	New Zealand	45.8%
31	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom	45.7%
32	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom	45.6%
33	City, University of London	United Kingdom	45.3%
34	University of West London	United Kingdom	45.2%
35	SOAS University of London	United Kingdom	45.0%
36	Queen Mary University of London	United Kingdom	44.9%
37	University of Manchester	United Kingdom	44.8%
38	Medical University of Sofia	Bulgaria	44.4%
39	Medical University of Innsbruck	Austria	44.2%
40	University of Warwick	United Kingdom	43.7%
41	Carnegie Mellon University	United States	43.6%
42	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong	43.3%
43	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom	43.0%
44	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	42.6%
=45	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France	42.5%
=45	University of Sunderland	United Kingdom	42.5%
47	New York University	United States	42.2%
48	The University of Queensland	Australia	42.1%
49	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	42.0%
50	Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)	United Kingdom	41.4%
51	Khalifa University	United Arab Emirates	41.3%
52	University of Essex	United Kingdom	41.2%
53	University of Macau	Macao	40.9%
54	Birkbeck, University of London	United Kingdom	40.7%
55	Queen’s University Belfast	United Kingdom	40.6%
=56	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom	40.3%
=56	University of Hertfordshire	United Kingdom	40.3%
=58	University of Geneva	Switzerland	40.2%
=58	Kingston University	United Kingdom	40.2%
=58	University of Aberdeen	United Kingdom	40.2%
61	UNSW Sydney	Australia	39.9%
62	Brunel University London	United Kingdom	39.5%
63	Technical University of Munich	Germany	39.2%
64	École des Ponts ParisTech	France	38.9%
65	Centrale Nantes	France	38.8%
66	Murdoch University	Australia	38.3%
=67	University of Twente	Netherlands	38.2%
=67	Goldsmiths, University of London	United Kingdom	38.2%
=67	Monash University	Australia	38.2%
70	Lancaster University	United Kingdom	37.9%
71	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	37.8%
72	Federation University Australia	Australia	37.5%
=73	De Montfort University	United Kingdom	37.4%
=73	UNIR – International University of La Rioja	Spain	37.4%
=75	London South Bank University	United Kingdom	37.3%
78	IMT Atlantique	France	37.0%
79	Semmelweis University	Hungary	36.8%
80	Heriot-Watt University	United Kingdom	36.4%
81	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands	36.3%
82	Qatar University	Qatar	36.2%
=83	Illinois Institute of Technology	United States	36.1%
=83	University of Roehampton	United Kingdom	36.1%
85	The University of Chicago	United States	36.0%
86	Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca	Romania	35.7%
=87	Columbia University	United States	35.4%
=87	University of Southampton	United Kingdom	35.4%
89	Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg	Austria	34.8%
90	University of Windsor	Canada	34.6%
91	Instituto Politécnico de Bragança	Portugal	34.5%
=92	University of Rochester	United States	34.4%
=92	RMIT University	Australia	34.4%
94	Bond University	Australia	34.2%
95	The New School	United States	34.0%
96	Trinity College Dublin	Ireland	33.9%
97	University of British Columbia	Canada	33.7%
=98	Concordia University	Canada	33.6%
=98	Edinburgh Napier University	United Kingdom	33.6%
=98	University of Sussex	United Kingdom	33.6%
=101	University of St Gallen	Switzerland	33.5%
=101	Flinders University	Australia	33.5%
103	Lincoln University	New Zealand	33.4%
=104	University of Surrey	United Kingdom	33.0%
=104	California Institute of Technology	United States	33.0%
=106	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	32.9%
108	University of Qom	Iran	32.8%
110	Brandeis University	United States	32.6%
=111	Alfaisal University	Saudi Arabia	32.5%
=111	Sciences Po	France	32.5%
=113	Durham University	United Kingdom	32.3%
=115	Northeastern University, US	United States	32.1%
=115	University of Leeds	United Kingdom	32.1%
117	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom	31.7%
118	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom	31.6%
119	Royal Veterinary College	United Kingdom	31.5%
=120	Ilmenau University of Technology	Germany	31.3%
=120	Royal Holloway, University of London	United Kingdom	31.3%
=120	TU Wien	Austria	31.3%
=120	University of Auckland	New Zealand	31.3%
124	University of Leicester	United Kingdom	31.2%
=125	Simon Fraser University	Canada	31.1%
=127	University of Basel	Switzerland	31.0%
=127	University of Bradford	United Kingdom	31.0%
=129	Korea University	South Korea	30.9%
=129	University of Tasmania	Australia	30.9%
=131	University of Bath	United Kingdom	30.8%
=131	University of Bristol	United Kingdom	30.8%
=131	University of Vienna	Austria	30.8%
=134	University of York	United Kingdom	30.7%
=134	University of Reading	United Kingdom	30.7%
136	University of Adelaide	Australia	30.6%
137	University of Klagenfurt	Austria	30.5%
138	Université Libre de Bruxelles	Belgium	30.4%
=139	European University of Madrid	Spain	30.3%
=139	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong	30.3%
141	Jinan University	China	30.2%
142	Stevens Institute of Technology	United States	30.1%
143	Kyung Hee University	South Korea	30.0%
=144	Universiti Utara Malaysia	Malaysia	29.8%
=144	Medical University of Vienna	Austria	29.8%
=146	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands	29.7%
=146	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong	29.7%
=148	RWTH Aachen University	Germany	29.4%
=148	McGill University	Canada	29.4%
=148	Riga Stradiņš University	Latvia	29.4%
=148	Boston University	United States	29.4%
=152	National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon (INSA Lyon)	France	29.3%
=152	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States	29.3%
=154	University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland	Switzerland	29.1%
=154	Curtin University	Australia	29.1%
157	University of Portsmouth	United Kingdom	28.8%
158	Medical University of Graz	Austria	28.6%
=159	University of Groningen	Netherlands	28.5%
=159	Technical University of Berlin	Germany	28.5%
=159	La Trobe University	Australia	28.5%
=162	Reichman University	Israel	28.4%
=162	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark	28.4%
164	University of Wolverhampton	United Kingdom	28.3%
=166	University of Exeter	United Kingdom	28.1%
=166	V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University	Ukraine	28.1%
=168	University of Central Lancashire	United Kingdom	28.0%
=168	York University	Canada	28.0%
170	Johns Hopkins University	United States	27.8%
171	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands	27.7%
=172	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia	27.6%
=172	University of Stirling	United Kingdom	27.6%
174	Universiti Putra Malaysia	Malaysia	27.4%
=175	Prague University of Economics and Business	Czech Republic	27.3%
=175	Massey University	New Zealand	27.3%
=177	University of Alberta	Canada	27.2%
=177	Karolinska Institute	Sweden	27.2%
=179	Dalhousie University	Canada	27.1%
=179	Charles Darwin University	Australia	27.1%
=179	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands	27.1%
=182	Cardiff University	United Kingdom	27.0%
=184	Universitat Internacional de Catalunya	Spain	26.9%
=184	Clark University	United States	26.9%
=184	University of Kent	United Kingdom	26.9%
=184	University of Toronto	Canada	26.9%
=188	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore	26.6%
=188	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom	26.6%
=190	University of Waikato	New Zealand	26.5%
=190	Birmingham City University	United Kingdom	26.5%
192	Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg	Germany	26.3%
193	University of California, Irvine	United States	26.2%
=194	University of Navarra	Spain	26.1%
=194	Robert Gordon University	United Kingdom	26.1%
=196	CY Cergy Paris University	France	26.0%
=198	Rice University	United States	25.9%
=198	Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU)	Czech Republic	25.9%
=200	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia	Malaysia	25.8%
=200	University of Huddersfield	United Kingdom	25.8%

Editor’s note: As part of our THE statement on Ukraine published on 2 March 2022, Russian universities have been given less prominence in our rankings. Russian universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.