Kenya Hosts 4th Highest Number of US Students in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa that had the highest number of students from the United States in the 2017/2018 academic year, a new report shows.

There were 341,751 Americans studying abroad in the period, according to the 2019 Open Doors Report on international education.

South Africa had the highest number of American students in the region with 6,001 followed by Ghana (2,210) and Tanzania (1556). Kenya ranked fourth with 927 US students followed by Uganda (837), Rwanda (377), Zambia (372), Malawi (263), Botswana (252) and Namibia (237).

Overall, the number of US students in the sub-Saharan Africa region stood at 14,416, according to the report released last week by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The report shows that a majority of American students abroad are in Europe, the highest being in the United Kingdom (39,403) followed by Italy (36,945), Spain (32,411), France (17,185) and Germany (12,250).

The report also ranked Kenya among African countries with a high number of students in US colleges and universities. It showed there were 3,451 Kenyan students enrolled in US higher education institutions in the period.

Nigeria had the highest number of students in the US last year with 13,423, an increase of about six percent from the previous academic year. Ghana was second (3,661) students followed by Kenya (3,451).

Among the East Africa nations, Kenya takes top spot followed by Ethiopia (2,061) students, Rwanda (1,292), Uganda (848), Tanzania (834), Burundi (141), Somalia (76) and South Sudan (63). Out of the 1,095,000 international students in the US, only 40,000 are from Africa.