The Philadelphia region is losing international student graduates to jobs elsewhere

At a time when American companies are facing workforce shortages, and colleges are struggling to draw enough students, the Philadelphia region is losing many international graduates to careers in other places, a new report says.

“We have a lot of work to do to make those connections between our graduates and regional employment,” said Bill Keyes, program director at International House Philadelphia, which supports international students.

International House Philadelphia and Campus Philly, an organization that focuses on retaining Philadelphia students after they graduate, produced the study by looking at local graduates with F-1 visa work authorization and optional practical training employment, known as “OPT.”

The number of Philly-area graduates with an OPT work authorization shrank from 2017 and 2021, and it’s “really hard to pin down” why, Keyes said. But it has been steadily recovering since 2021.

Still, many of these students find work outside of the region, and many don’t find work at all, the report indicates.

Of the OPT graduates who did find work, only 32% found jobs in the Philadelphia area in 2023. The rest left for jobs elsewhere.

“This is a segment of the workforce that employers just cannot ignore if they want to compete effectively in the decade ahead,” said Jennifer Kebea, president of Campus Philly.

Next year, the number of new high school graduates is expected to peak, and then steadily decline due to lower birthrates. That’s creating an enrollment cliff, the report notes. Local colleges have already been competing for new enrollments.

Attracting and keeping international students, Keyes and Kebea said, may help fill the gap for the higher education system, which is a major employer and economic driver in the region.

“We have this looming impediment coming, and we need to find some solutions,” Keyes said. “Here is this excellent match between supply and demand.”

“It’s not going to solve all the issues of higher education in our regional economy,” Keyes said. But “certainly a lifeline for colleges and for employers in our region.”

Many international students are asking their advisers about post-graduate employment opportunities even before they arrive, said Keyes.

Being able to point to an employment pipeline while recruiting students, is “the end goal,” said Kebea.

International students alone can’t fill the gap, Kebea acknowledged. Workforce development programs are engaging underemployed people, and Campus Philly has been working to get more local youth interested in attending college in the area, she said.

It’s unclear how the incoming Trump administration will affect international students and graduates, Kebea and Keyes said.

Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania have advised international students to return to campus from the holidays before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Some international students have said they are worried about their ability to stay and find work in the U.S. after graduating.

“There is both the chatter and worry about what might happen ... and then actually what’s happening through policy and practice on the ground,” Kebea said. “Both have an influence on the end result of whether or not we will see a stagnation, a decline or a spike in international student attraction and enrollment in higher education.”