The International Student Blog

Each year since 1919 the Open Doors Report on international educational exchange has been updated and published by the Institute of International Education (IIE). IIE, with the assistance of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, survey 30,000 accredited US institutions to compile data showing international student and study abroad trends throughout the years.

The latest report is in and according to the survey, international student enrollment in the US has continued to climb with a 6.5 percent increase. This means the total number of international students in the US increased with a 5.7 percent boost totaling 764,495 students.

When looking at the top places of origin for international students in the US, China still holds the first place title. There are 194,029 Chinese international students inside the US meaning they now make up over a quarter of the US international student population. India comes in second being responsible for 13.1 percent of the US international student population with 100,270 students; however, this is a 3.5 percent decrease from last year. Many of the other top origin countries experienced a decrease in the number of students being sent to the US this year. There were a few exceptions, among them includes Saudi Arabia who had the highest increase at 50 percent.

Where in the US are these international students flocking to for their studies? The top three states are California, New York and Texas. Top U.S. institutions include the University of Southern California (9,269), University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign (8,997) and New York University (8,660). Some of the top fields of study include Business and Management, Engineering and Math and Computer Science.

Of course the flow of students runs both ways, the number of US student who study abroad has tripled within the past two decades and the latest results show a 1.3 percent increase. Fourteen of the top 25 destinations are outside of Europe, however, the top three destinations were the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.

If you would like to view the full report and more on how international students in the US increased, please visit the Institute of International Education.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 at 11:35 am and is filed under International Student, Study Abroad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Written by Bryanna Davis

Bryanna joined EIC in 2011 after returning to the United States from teaching English in China. Her interest in international education, sparked initially by her own study abroad experience in Wales, led her to the company. Bryanna is originally from Missouri and is a graduate from the University of Central Missouri.

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