According to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute on International Education, 298,180 American students studied at foreign institutions of higher education during the 2023-24 academic year. This was up 6.2 percent from a year earlier. Nearly two-thirds of all Americans studying abroad attended universities in Europe.
Of all U.S. students studying abroad, 9,080, or 3.0 percent, attended universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The number of American students studying in sub-Saharan Africa decreased by nearly one percent from the previous year. Sub-Saharan African nations send more than seven times as many students to American universities as America sends to sub-Saharan African universities.
Among sub-Saharan African nations, South Africa was by far the most popular destination. In the 2023-24 academic year, 3,454 American students studied in South Africa. This was down more than 30 percent from the previous academic year. More than 38 percent of all U.S. citizens studying abroad in sub-Saharan African nations attended educational institutions in the Republic of South Africa.
Ghana ranked in second place, hosting 1,394 American students in the 2023-24 academic year. This is a decrease of 3.5 percent from the previous academic year. Kenya was the only other sub-Saharan African nation to host more than 1,000 American students. Tanzania hosted 863 American students in the 2023-24 academic year. Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, and Namibia were the only other sub-Saharan African nations to host more than 200 American students.
While the data does not reveal what percentage of American students studying abroad in Africa are African Americans, we do know that of all American students studying abroad in all areas of the globe during the 2023-24 academic year, about 6.1 percent were African Americans. This was up from 5.9 percent in the previous academic year. Twenty years ago, in the 2003-04 academic year, African Americans were 3.4 percent of all American students who studied abroad.
