US Attracts More International and Chinese Students

The latest Open Doors report (for 2010) shows the number of Chinese students enrolling in the US grew by a significantly large increase (6%) compared to the 1% in 2009. Chinese students lead Indian as the largest cohort in the US.

The numbers of Chinese students in the US rose to almost 158,000 whilst the numbers of Indian students fell by 1% to under 105,000.

Suggested explanations include the improving value of the Chinese currency against the US dollar, and recent improvements and changes to the visa processes required of Chinese students by the US authorities.

The value of international students to the US economy is now estimated at £21 billion a year. This is over double what it was some 10 years ago. New York, California and Texas are the most popular destinations, with business & management, engineering, science and maths being the most popular program and courses areas.

Interestingly, more US students are getting the travel bug, with those studying abroad growing by over 85% in the last 10 years. Almost all of these are for short programs of around 8 weeks, but expect to see the numbers of US students looking at overseas options grow.

see: www.iie.org