According to this article in the Washington Post, the number of international students applying to US universities has increased for the first time since 2001.
“Generally, they are full-time, full-paying students and generally are very high-quality, so the bottom line academically is very positive as well,” he said.
The number of foreigners seeking advanced engineering degrees shot up 17 percent this year while life sciences chalked up a 16 percent rise, the council said. In contrast, business programs only drew 7 percent more applicants.
India contributed the biggest increase in overseas applicants, with a 23 percent rise, followed by China, which saw a 21 percent gain. The ranks of Middle Eastern candidates grew 4 percent, and those from Korea rose 3 percent.
Foreigners Returning to U.S. Schools
Reuters
Saturday, March 25, 2006; A02
NEW YORK, March 24 — More foreigners applied to U.S. graduate schools for fall classes this year than last, reversing two years of declines caused by visa delays attributable to increased post-Sept. 11 security, a new report says.
The number of overseas applicants who sought U.S. graduate degrees this year shot up 11 percent. The number of overseas applicants had edged down 5 percent last year and plunged 28 percent the year before that.
But only 49,184 foreign graduate students began programs in U.S. universities in 2004, according to the most recent data available.
That is a drop of more than 14 percent from 2001, according to Stuart Heiser, a spokesman for the D.C.-based Council of Graduate Schools.
“That is a problem,” he said. “Obviously, if there are fewer students, there is less revenue, less research going on, and less of a chance of a significant breakthrough or innovation.”
Heiser said the nonprofit group of 450 U.S. and Canadian graduate schools did not collect applicant data before 2003.
In addition to visa delays after the 2001 attacks, the drop in enrollees also reflected increased competition for graduate students from other countries, notably India and China, he added.
Both the U.S. economy and its graduate schools owe some of their strength to overseas students — especially if they find jobs or create them at research-driven firms near their alma maters.
Sixty-eight percent of graduating PhD students say they will stay or intend to do so, Heiser said, citing a separate 2004 study by the National Science Foundation.
Jay Halfond, a dean at Boston University, said the university needs the foreign students.
“Generally, they are full-time, full-paying students and generally are very high-quality, so the bottom line academically is very positive as well,” he said.
The number of foreigners seeking advanced engineering degrees shot up 17 percent this year while life sciences chalked up a 16 percent rise, the council said. In contrast, business programs only drew 7 percent more applicants.
India contributed the biggest increase in overseas applicants, with a 23 percent rise, followed by China, which saw a 21 percent gain. The ranks of Middle Eastern candidates grew 4 percent, and those from Korea rose 3 percent.
