We reported last week on a significant increase in the number of students from sub-Saharan Africa who were studying in the United States during the 2023-24 academic year. What about U.S. students studying abroad in sub-Saharan African nations?
According to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute on International Education, the number of Americans studying at African universities nearly doubled from the 2021-22 academic year to the 2022-23 academic year. There were 9,163 Americans studying in sub-Saharan Africa, up 98.6 percent from the previous year. Nearly 3.3 percent of all Americans studying abroad in the 2022-23 academic year spent their time at universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The number of students from sub-Saharan Africa studying in the United States was more than 12 times the number of American students who attended universities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nearly 39 percent of all U.S. students studying abroad in sub-Saharan Africa attended universities in South Africa. There were 3,568 American students attending universities in South Africa during the 2022-23 academic year. This was up 113 percent from the previous year. In the 2022-23 academic year 1,444 U.S. students studied in Ghana, more than double the number from the previous year. Kenya hosted 1,024 U.S. students, up 38 percent from the previous year. There were 910 U.S. students at universities in Tanzania, up more than 150 percent from the previous year.
The only other sub-Saharan African nations hosting more than 100 American students were Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Senegal.
