MUMBAI: The number of international students enrolled in US higher education increased by 7.1 per cent to cross one million in 2015/16, with 69,000 more students than the previous year at colleges and universities across the United States. This marks the tenth consecutive year that Open Doors reported expansion in the total number of international students in US higher education. There are now 85% more international students studying at US colleges and universities than were reported a decade ago.
The count of international students is now 1,043,839, representing just over five percent of the more than 20 million students enrolled in US higher education, up from around four percent in previous years. This increase is due to both the growing numbers of international students and a small decline in the number of American students enrolled in U.S. higher education.
Places of Origin: For the second year in a row, the largest growth was in the number of students from India, primarily at the graduate level and in optional practical training (OPT). China remains the top sending country, with almost twice the number of students in the US as India, but India's rate of growth and absolute increases outpaced China's.
There were also large increases in students from several countries where the national governments have been investing in scholarship programs to send their students abroad.There was a 2.2 per cent increase in the number of students from Saudi Arabia, bringing Saudi students in the United States to over 61,000, largely funded by the Saudi government scholarship program, now approaching its 13th year. On a smaller scale, the continued expansion of the Kuwaiti government scholarship programs led to 8.2 per cent more students coming from Kuwait. With 9,772 students, Kuwait is the 16th leading place of origin for the second year in a row.
Students from the top three countries of origin - China, India, and Saudi Arabia - now represent approximately 53 percent of the total enrollment of international students in the United States. The numbers from South Korea declined by 4.2 percent, causing it to fall from the third leading place of origin to fourth place.After these top four countries, no country represents more than three percent of the total international students in the United States. Despite a one percent decline, Canada remains the fifth leading place of origin.
Each of the top 25 places of origin had more than 6,000 students in the United States. There were increases in the number of students from 16 of the top 25 places of origin, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Iran, United Kingdom, Nepal, Nigeria, Kuwait, France, Indonesia, Venezuela, Malaysia, Colombia, and Spain.
Students from Iran, the eleventh leading place of origin, increased by 8.2 percent to 12,269, the highest U.S. enrollment by Iranians in 29 years, but still significantly lower than the peak of more than 50,000 Iranian students in the United States in 1979/80. From 1974/75 to 1982/83, Iran was the top sender of international students to the United States.
The number of students from Japan remained relatively flat. Canada, Turkey, Hong Kong, Mexico, Germany and Thailand saw very slight decreases of less than two percent each. South Korea saw a modest decline from the previous year (down four percent). The factors driving these declines likely include a mix of global and local economic factors, and in some cases expanded higher education opportunities at home and declining populations. The largest drop was among students from Brazil who declined 18.2% to 19,370 students. This decrease can be attributed to the freeze in the Brazil government's Scientific Mobility Program, which previously sponsored many Brazilian students' U.S. studies.
2016-11-18
Source: indiatimes.com
