International Graduate Student Numbers Creep Up in 2005
After three consecutive years of declining rates, the number of new international graduate students enrolling in universities in the United States has rebounded this fall.
However, that rate increase as reported by the Council of Graduate Schools was an extremely modest, 1 percent, climb over the figures from 2004. Though only 1 percent, the rate increase was a positive turn for schools after the dramatic decline over the three year period directly after the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks. During that three-year period, international graduate student numbers had fallen a combined 20 percent.
The drop in international graduate numbers is believed to be the result of many factors. Among the reasons specified for the drop include visa delays, anti-Americanism and greater competition from universities in other countries.
The drop in international student numbers has caused great concern for university administrators as well as those involved in foreign policy. For university officials, the concern centered upon the fact that foreign students had become an important teaching resource for their schools, especially in science and engineering. For foreign policy experts, the belief is that providing a positive educational experience in the United States for a foreign student is the best method for developing relationships with foreign countries.
Approximately 1.5 million graduate students were enrolled in U.S. universities last year, 225,000 of them coming from other countries. For 2005, the two largest sources of foreign graduate students were China and India.
By Thomas Hanson
Nov 9, 2005, 17:23
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