Sociologist George Ritzer created the word "McDonaldization" to describe how concepts from fast-food chains—efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control, or ECPC—have permeated many aspects of society. Teaching, learning, and administration are undergoing a fundamental revolution as a result of these concepts being increasingly embedded in higher education in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

In 2009, South Korea implemented a tuition fee moratorium that was effectively mandatory for universities. Institutions that attempted to increase fees were subject to financial penalties to enforce this policy. The University of Seoul implemented the "half-price" tuition policy in 2012, which served to further solidify this policy. The tuition fee freeze and halving significantly reduced the university's annual cost to approximately 2.4 million won ($1,820), which is under the jurisdiction of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Many countries have implemented policies to attract international students for their financial and intellectual contributions, as international education has become a propelling force in global mobility and economic strategy. This has resulted in the emergence of exploitative recruitment agencies and fraudulent institutions that exploit the demand for overseas education, despite the fact that it presents valuable opportunities for both students and host nations.

A significant change in how Chinese colleges view their own capabilities has been sparked by DeepSeek's rise to prominence as a global AI powerhouse. Chinese colleges are now proving that they can generate top-tier innovators who compete at the highest levels—without having to leave the country—instead of being perceived as needing to send their brightest minds abroad for further education and research possibilities.

The UK's higher education sector, notably its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) departments, confronts significant worries due to recent adjustments in immigration regulations. Despite warnings from academic and governmental agencies, the UK government has proven reticent to change these rules, even though there is a clear acknowledgment of their potential harmful impact on STEM provision.

Canada's higher education institutions are facing significant challenges as the international student market, a critical revenue stream for many universities, suffers a series of setbacks. The financial fallout and no-show epidemic hits Canadian universities as many international students are considering other options such as the UK and US. Canada has lost its global appeal to many international students as they are searching for better prospects elsewhere. 

Indian economy is growing at a surprising speed with 9.7% in 2022 and 7.2% in 2023. Partly because of capital influx to the Indian economy from Silicon Valley's large tech firms for cheaper labor. In fact, it's not US firms alone that are outsourcing software engineers from India. Most western European companies have already relied on eastern European software engineers, and now they go to India. Japan and Korea follow the international trend. Meanwhile, souther and eastern European countries along with Russia provide world-class softwares that startles the global markets.

China is paradoxically entangled with an increasing youth unemployment rate and a shortage of workers, all the while producing the highest number of college graduates in its history. China has gone through numerous educational policy developments, especially since Deng Xiaoping opened the country’s economic door to foreign businesses in 1978. At the core, the policies have been deeply impacted by the country’s pursuit of rapid economic growth, and more recently, of a global foothold in science and technology.

Earlier last month, Japan’s parliament passed an economic security bill to increase government oversight of science and technologies. Of the four broad areas the law is set to cover, securing and protecting research data and patents on advanced technologies is one of them. The Japanese government primarily introduced the law following its closest ally — the United States — to decouple technologically with China for security purposes.

Starting on May 30, recent graduates of top global universities are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom for a maximum of three years, with a new scheme called a High Potential Individual (HPI) visa. The applicants must have graduated from an eligible university within five years, and once accepted, college graduates will be allowed to stay for two years at most or three years for Ph.D.

An academic movement to expand the knowledge of the United States is spreading across the higher education sector in Africa.

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Australian universities are one of the most popular destinations for international students. While its close proximity attracts many students from Asia, its reputable academic programs also attract students worldwide. Just like how the west coast and the east coast of the U.S. differ in atmosphere and culture, each region in Australia has its own specialties.

A group of Universities in Australia, including the Australian National University (ANU), have taken measures to halt all collaboration with fellow research institutions in Russia.

Switzerland had frequently been an education destination for many European college students as the Erasmus program, a pan-European college credit sharing system, used to encompass Swiss universities. However, following the Swiss’ decision to re-introduce quotas on EU citizens in 2014, the education authorities of the EU excluded the country from their program.

As Russia continues to push into Ukraine, sanctions against Russia are starting to cripple its economy and higher education. As of early April, the European Commission (EC), the executive branch of the European Union (EU), has decided to cease all ongoing grant agreements to Russian research and education entities as a part of the fifth package of sanctions.

Most universities in Korea offer courses in English. And they offer Korean language and culture courses as well. But choosing which one to attend is a difficult choice. Their capital city, Seoul, has around 40 universities.

For any political science major, there is always time and place to learn about Chinese politics. China is such a huge part of global politics, and to not teach about Chinese politics in a political science course would be like teaching a physics course without algebra. Sometimes colleges require certain majors to take a mandatory course on Chinese politics because of how influential it is to international politics.

Any international students living outside the U.S. and currently choosing a college or university will understand that it’s hard to pick the right one. As online reviews of colleges are plagued with bias and videos made by colleges are more for entertainment and advertisement, taking an objective look at the schools is harder than ever before. They mostly try to show off their fancy campuses and rankings on their websites. Instead, ranking systems from companies, like U.S. News and QS Top Universities, are often one of the few options that people use to find the right college for themselves.

International student numbers worldwide plummeted when the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. It is reported that international student numbers in US colleges declined by 15% and new international student enrollment fell by an astonishing 46%.  Australia also suffered a massive decline of overseas students with strict Covid-19 lockdowns and completely closing its borders during the height of the pandemic.