The changing global geography of African student mobility

← Back to Merisphere Weekly Current Affairs Higher education · Mobility and research The changing global geography of African student mobility Mansi-Dongi Dokoma 8 November 2026 France hosts more students as destinations diversify A country can host more African students while losing a share of their mobility if departures to other destinations grow faster. Campus France and UNESCO series track these developments using different statistical definitions and coverage. African higher education changes scale African universities are no longer those of the independence era. New national institutions, expanding secondary education, urbanisation and demand for qualifications have considerably widened the pool entering higher education. This expansion is distinct from international mobility: the vast majority of students study in their own country or region. More than 500,000 sub-Saharan students abroad in 2022 According to Campus France's Chiffres clés 2025, based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, 502,432 students from sub-Saharan Africa were pursuing degree programmes abroad in 2022 in the destinations series, a 29% increase since 2017. Another geographical breakdown in the same r Translation of La nouvelle géographie mondiale de la mobilité des étudiants africains.