— international students .. I believe international students are on average more motivated than local students.

• International students (me included) pay much higher fees than locals.
• International students do more comparison-analysis before enrolling, so they are more committed to the program.
• International students go through more personal adjustments (on average more personal effort), so they have more purpose and motivation.
• Anunay Gupta pointed out “international students are likely more motivated since they see this degree as a step to getting a job” or immigration.

The extra comparison analysis by international students and parents serve as an _independent_ quality assurance. I believe that international students (and their parents) mostly choose high quality universities, so percentageOfInternationalStudents serves as a yardstick of quality.

I guess this comparison analysis can reveal the relative ease of admission for foreign students.