Fewer Indians for second year in a row.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A survey conducted by the Institute of International Education (IIE) has found that when it comes to foreign students coming to the US for any kind of college education, India’s numbers have decreased for the second year in a row.
The number of students from India decreased by 3.5% from the previous year; they sent only 96,754 students last year. That’s less than half of the 235,000 students China sent, a 21% increase from the year before and putting the world’s most populated nation far ahead of the other countries on the survey, with India coming in second place.
In total, there were 819,644 students from foreign countries who came to the US for undergraduate or post-graduate studies during the 2012-2013 academic term, an increase of about 7% from the previous year. After China and India, the top five countries sending these students were rounded out by South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
In a statement to the Associated Press, IIE president and CEO Allan Goodman said that international students (specifically those from China) are coming to the US in hordes because they realize how important high-quality education is, and that the US is unique in its ability to accommodate and “absorb” these students.
The study stands in contrast with another that was released early last week, in which it was stated that India is sending graduate students to the US in record numbers, with the influx of Indian grad students rising an astonishing 40% in the last year. China, meanwhile, only rose 5%, despite being in the lead for several years.
Of the total number of students in US graduate school programs, foreign students constitute just over 220,000, or 15%. In terms of the total number of students in all undergraduate or post-graduate schools, foreign students only account for about 4% of the population.
Nevertheless, China, India, and South Korea combined represent about 50% of the total number of foreign students in the US. No other country after them constitutes even 5% of the total on their own. Foreign students account for over $24 billion worth of contributions to the US economy, with over 70% of these students’ funding coming from non-US sources, such as the governments of their home countries, and their families as well.
The report also shows that Indian students still have a proclivity for STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) fields of study, with 35% of them going to engineering, 23% to math and computer sciences, and 11% studying physical and life sciences. Apart from those fields, just under 14% come to study business management, 3.5% study social sciences, and only 0.5% come for humanities.
In terms of which states international students tend to favor, California came in first, with over 100,000 foreign students flocking there. Specifically, the University of Southern California was revealed to be the most popular academic destination for foreigners. After California came New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Illinois. New York City led in terms of most popular metropolitan areas for foreign students.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com