USA still top for educating world leaders

The HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power Index 2025, conducted by the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank in the UK in collaboration with Kaplan International Pathways , analyses the world leaders (monarchs, presidents and prime ministers) who pursued higher education overseas as international students.

The USA remains at the top of the list with 66 current world leaders educated, a slight decrease from the record 68 in the previous year’s report, followed by the UK with 59, which matched its best-ever performance.

Harvard University has educated more current world leaders than any other institution. Photo – Harvard University/Kris Snippe.

The top five was completed by France with 23 leaders, which was down four compared with the previous year and has dropped by 17 since 2018, Russia with a record 13 (+three over the previous year), and Australia with nine (+two).

India had a best-ever performance with five leaders educated, matching Spain and Italy to enter the top ten, the authors said.

For the first time, the HEPI/Kaplan Soft Power Index lists the results of institutions that have educated current world leaders as international students. Harvard University topped the list with 15, followed by the University of Oxford on 12.

The authors highlighted that Harvard alone has educated more world leaders that all bar three countries in the world.

The top five institution list was completed by Sandhurst (eight), the University of Manchester (six) and the University of Cambridge (five) – all in the UK.

Nick Hillman OBE, the Director of HEPI, said, “International students bring enormous benefits to the UK. They all spend money while they are here and some then contribute to the UK labor market after studying. The diplomatic benefits are less well understood even though they can be equally important. In 2025, over a quarter of the countries around the world have a very senior leader educated in the UK, which amounts to tremendous soft power.”

He added, “The current UK Government have established a Soft Power Council and promised a new education exports strategy. These are welcome, but they are counterbalanced by the incoming levy on international students, huge dollops of negative rhetoric and excessive visa costs.”

Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester , which is one of the UK’s largest recruiters of international students, said, “The HEPI/Kaplan Soft-Power Index makes clear just how important international students are to the UK’s global influence – both now and into the future. Extraordinary future leaders get their start at many of our universities and retain a deep affection for our country long after.

Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, is one of the world leaders who studied abroad. Photo – Lars Hagberg

“And yet the Government is, at the same time, putting up obstacles to welcoming future international students to the UK with a proposed international levy, higher visa costs and reducing the graduate visa route.”

World leaders that studied higher education overseas as an international student include the Prime Minister of Canada, the Emperor of Japan, the President and the Prime Minister of Singapore, the President of the Swiss Confederation, the President of the Philippines, the King of Norway, and the King of Jordan.