Number of Indian-origin international students highest in China, 2nd in US

India is the second leading place of origin for international students in the US with the country witnessing an increase in the number of Indian students’ enrolment to its educational institutions by 6.1 per cent in 2013-14 after three consecutive years of decline.

 China, however, has retained the top position for the fifth year in a row, with the country sending the highest number of students to study in the US. India had been the leading place of origin for international students in the US for eight years from 2001-02 through 2008-09.

“In 2009-10, the rate of growth from India levelled off, and China replaced India as the top sender and retains its position today,” according to a latest report by the Institute of International Education (IEE), an independent not-for-profit organisation with a network of 19 offices and affiliates worldwide. The IIE has been conducting an annual statistical survey of the international students in the US since its founding in 1919 and in partnership with the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs since 1972.

According to IIE’s “Open Doors” report for the year 2014, the majority of Indian students in the US study at the graduate level. “In 2013-14, their breakdown was: 12.3 per cent undergraduate; 59.5 per cent graduate students; 1.2 per cent others; 27 per cent OPT (Optional Practical Training),” it noted. In the 2013-14 academic year, a total of 1,02,673 students from India were studying in the US, up 6.1 per cent from the previous year, the report said.

Comprising 11.6 per cent of the total international students in US colleges and universities, Indians contributed $3.3 billion to the US economy in 2013, the report noted, referring to statistics with the US Department of Commerce. The number of Indian students in the US is more than double what it was 15 years ago. In 1999-2000, as many as 42,337 students from India studied in the US.

Unlike India, a slim majority of Chinese students study at the graduate level in the US which continues to experience an upsurge in the number of undergraduate students from the country. “In 2013-14, their (Chinese students) breakdown was: 40.3 per cenr undergraduate; 42.1 er cent graduate students; 5.4 per cent other; 12.2 per cent OPT (Optional Practical Training),” the report underlined.

Making up 31 per cent of international students studying in the US colleges and universities, Chinese students contributed $8.04 billion to the US economy last year.
DH News Service