Emerging Futures 8, Voice of the International Student is IDP's latest large scale survey of more than 7,900 international students from 134 countries and regions, conducted between July and August 2025.

Emerging Futures is an established body of research that provides comprehensive insight into the priorities, perceptions, and motivations of international students as they relate to destination choice and international education experience. 

Latest key findings include: 

• Policy shocks are affecting confidence: Students told us that abrupt changes to policy without clear communication affects their decision making, and that New Zealand provides the clearest guidance on policies.
• Affordability remains the greatest obstacle to international education: With ‘cost of tuition’, ‘cost of living’ and ‘student visa cost’ as the top three reasons given by students declining to study internationally. 
• Australia remains in top spot as ‘first-choice destination’: The US has seen a decline, down three percentage points since our last survey, behind the UK. 

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