Spain is the most popular destination for EU graduates studying abroad (for at least three months of their degree), accounting for 11.1% of all graduate stays.
Other popular destinations included the United Kingdom (9.7%) and the United States (7.2%).
According to Eurostat, in 2022, nearly 9% of EU graduates participated in international study programmes (so-called ‘credit mobile graduates’, enrolled in tertiary education ISCED levels 5-8), studying abroad for at least three months during their degree.
A total of 363,900 graduates, out of 4.1 million across the EU, participated in a study programme abroad. France had the largest share of these mobile graduates, with 179,997 students (49.5%), followed by Germany with 51,100 (14.0%) and Italy with 47,815 (13.1%).
Regional differences
Notably, Eurostat’s data also showed that certain EU countries attracted larger shares of students from particular nations.
For instance, 54.3% of students from Cyprus went to study in Greece, 51.1% of students from Malta studied in Italy, and Germany hosted 27.1% of Luxembourg’s students. Read more here.
Europe’s smartest country
Elsewhere, a recent study by the online tutoring school TutorSpace identified Switzerland as Europe’s “smartest” country. The study assessed 17 factors related to intelligence and educational development across four categories: education quality and access, higher education and research, literacy and digital literacy, and government investment.
Switzerland ranked highest with an overall score of 81.1, exceeding 75 in all four categories.
