The most popular majors chosen by international students in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada

Business and engineering are majors that are attracting great interest from foreign students in the US, Canada, and Australia, due to similarities in global labor market needs.

Students receive 1-on-1 consultation with university representatives - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

On September 27, in Hanoi , nearly 30 prestigious universities from the US, UK, Australia, and Canada participated in the "Summit global education fair 2025" conference, attracting hundreds of students and parents to learn about study opportunities and scholarship consideration from school representatives.

Ms. Le Dieu Linh - Deputy Director of Summit Education Organization - cited the Open Doors 2023 report saying that business and engineering are two of the most popular majors chosen by international students when coming to the four countries of the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, due to similarities in the global labor market.

Besides, international students also have their own choices, for example, choosing health in Canada and Australia, law in the UK, agriculture in Australia, engineering and computer science in the US.

Different options depend on each country's preferential policy for recruiting international students and the specific human resource needs of each region.

In the US, the most popular majors for international students include engineering, business, computer science, mathematics and statistics. The influencing factors are assessed as high demand for human resources and H1B visa prospects.

In the UK, factors influencing international students' choice of majors are preferential post-graduation visa policies and the reputation of universities.

"When choosing a major, don't just focus on the hottest major now, but think about the next 20 years, when the hot major now may decline. The major must focus on survival skills," Ms. Linh noted when choosing a major to study abroad.

Engineering is one of the most popular majors chosen by international students in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.

Ms. Harriet Pham - admissions officer of the University of Toronto (Canada) - said that the cost of studying at the school, excluding scholarships, is about 1.5 billion VND/year (including tuition and accommodation).

Each year the school offers approximately 5,000 scholarships to international students, automatically based on the student’s academic performance. With full scholarships, the school only offers 37 scholarships each year for outstanding international students, with fierce competition from approximately 2,000 applications worldwide each year.

The average cost for each popular major in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK ranges from 35,000 - 55,000 USD/year, including tuition and living expenses.

Regarding finances when studying abroad, according to Ms. Linh, graduating from university after 4 years and working immediately is usually the standard for those studying engineering, finance, and business. For those majoring in health care and law, it may take 6-8 years of studying abroad.

Therefore, international students need to try to apply for maximum scholarships in the first 4 years, the financial support will be less in the following years of graduate study.

"When studying abroad, you should carefully calculate your finances for 4 years. If you plan to work part-time to cover tuition fees, it will be difficult to quantify your financial capacity.

Especially in the context that countries are creating barriers for international students, when working part-time jobs unrelated to their field of study, they will easily be classified as illegal workers and deported back to their home country," said Ms. Linh.

NGUYEN BAO

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-nganh-hoc-du-hoc-sinh-chon-nhieu-nhat-tai-my-anh-uc-canada-20250927201601086.htm