A Reckoning

Prior to Covid-19, there were few signs that the United States could slip from its position as the world’s epicenter of higher learning. Since World War II, foreign student enrollments in America, for the most part, grew steadily. The seemingly unstoppable rise in the field of education exchange would be thwarted by the pandemic, a brief era that resulted in a decline in foreign student numbers. Today, as enrollments again rise, more than one million international students are studying in colleges and universities across the United States, far exceeding foreign enrollments in any other country. Other issues remain problematic, however, such as volatile geopolitical disputes, restrictions on border crossings, burgeoning constraints on academic expression and a rise in violence in America, mostly due to social and governmental wrangles. This chapter takes stock of the current condition of the field of international education exchange in post-pandemic America, including trends, programs, and policies, along with recent census data. It then introduces a review of the history of the field, presented in retrospect.