The flow of new international students entering U.S. colleges and universities shrank last year and has continued to decline this fall on many campuses, breaking a recent trend of growth, a nonprofit group said Monday. The data from the Institute of International Education are likely to fuel questions about how the divisive 2016 presidential campaign and U.S. policy shifts since President Trump took office have influenced the global academic market.

The number of foreign students in Shanghai has increased by 13,000 to 60,200 in the past five years due to enhanced efforts in international exchanges. The city has set up sister city ties with 84 cities in 57 countries and regions, with “rich communication and cooperation in education, arts, sport, science and technology,” Shanghai Education Commission said.

Efforts to bring international students to U.S. campuses and send American students overseas has accelerated in the past five years, according to an American Council on Education (ACE) survey of U.S. colleges. International engagement was “high” or “very high,” ACE said of the more than 70 percent of 1,100 American colleges and universities it polled in 2016. Schools have stepped up efforts to “internationalize” campuses in the face of globalization, the report said, but “efforts are still focused first and foremost on the external[.]”

The “soft power” argument plays a role too: overseas graduates are also seen as generating goodwill for Germany globally. “The idea of Germany being part of an international community is valued very highly,” said Ms Wahlers. “Of course, we invest a certain amount of money [in their education], but what we get back is worth so much more. The international students, when they graduate, will be partners for Germany in the world, this kind of international network building is of immense importance to us.”