Student mobility between Asia and Europe has long moved predominantly in one direction. According to Eurostat, in 2024, 26% of all foreign students studying across the EU came from Asia, more than any other continent. QS forecasts around 640,000 students from East, South and Southeast Asia studying in Europe, with Spain in particular experiencing growing numbers of South Korean and Japanese students, attracted by affordability and easier visa pathways at a time when access to the US has become more restricted. The share of Chinese students choosing the traditional “big four” destinations – the US, UK, Australia and Canada – fell from 64% to 56% between 2019 and 2024, with Germany as one of the beneficiaries. Going the other way, Spain, the UK and the US are the top three destinations, together taking in more than a quarter of all EU credit-mobile students.
Beneath that aggregate, however, individual Asian countries are now pulling in more European students than previously recorded. China’s Ministry of Education reported that European students made up about 16% of its 380,000 international students in 2024/25 (~ 60,000). Japan hosted a record 336,708 international students in 2024, including 13,312 from Europe. South Korea recorded 253,434 international students in 2025, up from 208,962 in 2024, and the Korean government is targeting 300,000 international students by 2027 through its “Study Korea 300K” project. Factors driving this change could include growing research visibility and rankings of Asian universities, and greater cultural familiarity through travel, media, diaspora links, international businesses and social media.
A genuinely two-way flow of students would help to build the kind of personal networks and working familiarity that formal diplomacy or business transactional relations would find difficult to replicate. Students who study abroad develop language skills, professional connections and a deeper understanding of other societies from the inside. The ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme, launched in 2001, promotes balanced mobility through paired exchanges between Asian and European higher education institutions. It has thus far supported almost 5,000 students and academics. ASEF believes that connecting Asia and Europe must start with the young. Notably, the ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS), established in 2015, connects young professionals and students from Asia and Europe through leadership training, dialogue and cross-regional collaboration. Other Education programmes include the Asia-Europe Science & Technology Diplomacy Initiative for Young Leaders and ASEF Higher Education Innovation Laboratory.
Sources:
Eurostat, May 2026, “Learning mobility statistics”, Eurostat
Study in Korea / Ministry of Education, “Statistics in Korea” (2015–2025)
ASEM Education – Balanced Mobility
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