Various forms of cross-border education have been developed in recent decades (e.g. mobility of educational programmes and institutions across borders) and contribute to the internationalisation of the higher education system. Student mobility in tertiary education is an important illustration of this.

International mobility of doctoral students can be used as an indicator of the internationalisation of the higher education sector as well as of the research system. It also highlights the attractiveness of advanced research programmes and in some cases the existence of career opportunities for junior researchers in the host country. Previous research has shown that doctoral students contribute to the advancement of research in the host country during their studies and afterwards. When returning home, they bring back new competences and connections with international research networks.

The United States, like France and the United Kingdom, educates large numbers of foreign students. Of the 45 600 doctorates awarded in 2006, two-thirds were in science and engineering (S&E) and 38% of new graduates in these fields were foreign citizens with temporary visas. Over the past decade, the US higher education system has granted an average of 9 500 new S&E doctorates to foreign citizens each year; the number exceeded 12 700 in 2006.

The presence of foreign scholars in US higher education institutions is an indicator of the international attractiveness of the country’s universities and of opportunities for researchers in the United States.