From the News You Can Use Archives 12/19/06

Coming to America, Going Abroad — Who are They?
By Ian Crawford, Web Communications Editor

The annual Open Doors study by the Institute of International Education suggests that enrollment by foreign students in U.S. higher education institutions is rebounding after two years of decline and that American students are studying abroad in ever increasing numbers.

Some facts are worth highlighting: As a destination for international students, the United States hosted 564,766 guests in 2005/06, a very slight one-tenth of one percent dip from the year before, almost halting a three year decline. The number of foreign students in the U.S. represents 3.9 percent of the total enrollment at higher education institutions.

Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education, commented “I think everyone is relieved to see that the declines of the past few years have leveled out, and we're seeing a bump up in new students. It's going to take a while for the new cohort to work its way through the system, but we're going to see increases.”

The top 10 countries of origin for U.S. international students (2005/06) are as follows:

	Rank	Percent of Total
	1. India	13.5
	2. China	11.1
	3. South Korea	10.4
	4. Japan	6.9
	5. Canada	5.0
	6. Taiwan	4.9
	7. Mexico	2.5
	8. Turkey	2.1
	9. Germany	1.6
1	0. Thailand	1.6

More than half of U.S. international students come from Asian countries. However, the number of students from India declined by 4.9 percent. The biggest increases in students came from #3 South Korea (10.3 percent), #12 Hong Kong (9.3 percent) and #19 Nepal (24.7 percent).

Almost two-thirds of foreign students funded their education in the U.S. with money supplied by themselves or their family (63.4 percent), though a quarter received most of their funds from a U.S. college or university.

As a place of origin for international students, the United States sent 205,983 scholars abroad in 2004/05, a 7.7 percent increase from the year before and double the number a decade ago.

The top countries of destination for U.S. students abroad (2004/05) are as follows:

	Rank	Percent of Total
	1. United Kingdom	15.6
	2. Italy	12.1
	3. Spain	10.1
	4. France	7.5
	5. Australia	5.2
	6. Mexico	4.5
	7. Germany	3.2
	8. China	3.1
	9. Ireland	2.5
1	0. Costa Rica	2.5

More than 60 percent of U.S. students abroad traveled to Europe, with a little more than one-seventh going to Latin America. However, the destinations with the biggest increases of U.S. students abroad are #18 Argentina (53.1 percent), #20 India (52.7 percent), #8 China (34.9 percent) and #19 Brazil (28.3 percent).

Peggy Blumenthal said that she was encouraged by the large percentage increases to countries such as India, China and Argentina. “The large numbers are still going to the traditional sites, but the growth [in other places] says to me that people are seeing a professional advantage to having spent time in India or China,” she said.

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Open Doors - Institute of International Education

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Story posted December 19, 2006.

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