International students have returned to US colleges, fuelled by a surge from India. Students attended US universities in large numbers last year, bouncing back from a pandemic slump. The number of students from India jumped 35 per cent, according to a study released on Monday.
Overall, the number of international students in the US grew by 12 per cent in the 2022-23 academic year, the largest single-year increase in more than 40 years, according to the State Department and the non-profit Institute of International Education. More than 1 million students came from abroad, the most since the 2019-20 school year.
“This confirms that the US remains the destination of choice for international students seeking to study abroad, as it has been for more than a century,” said Allan E Goodman, CEO of the Institute of International Education.
American colleges enrolled nearly 269,000 students from India, the most ever and second only to China. Most came for graduate programmes, often in science, technology and business.
“The US has a strong educational relationship with India that I think is getting stronger and more connected,” said Marianne Craven, the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for academic exchanges.
China still accounted for the largest number of foreign students in the US, with 2.90 lakh, but its numbers fell for the third year in a row.
It reflects a gradual shift. After years of booming demand from China, interest has waned amid chilly international relations and increased competition from universities in the UK and Canada. Officials behind the new study also blame prolonged travel restrictions in Asia during the pandemic.
At the same time, US universities have focused on recruiting in India, hoping to tap into a growing population that the United Nations predicts will overtake China as the world’s largest this year. Students from India now outnumber those from China in 24 US states, including Illinois, Texas and Michigan, which are among the top destinations for international students.
For the second year in a row, America’s graduate programmes were the main attraction for international students, the study found. Graduate enrolments grew by 21 per cent, while undergraduate enrolments increased by 1 per cent.
This reverses the trend of the previous decade, when undergraduate students were more likely to come.
Much of last year’s growth can be attributed to maths and computer science, which attracted more students than any other subject and saw a 20 per cent increase in enrolments over the previous year. Engineering and business studies followed. Together, these three fields account for more than half of all international students in the United States.
The spike brings international enrolment almost back to its pre-pandemic high, with a peak of nearly 1.1 million students in 2018. Enrolments fell sharply in the following two years as COVID-19 stifled academic exchange.
The recovery appears to be continuing, with international enrolment up 8 per cent this autumn, according to a smaller survey designed to provide a snapshot of recent trends.
Overall, international students made up just 5.6 per cent of all college students in 2022-23, but they play an outsized role in US higher education. University leaders say they’re important for global exchange, and they’re also important for revenue – international students tend to pay higher tuition, effectively subsidising college for US students.
After China and India, the countries sending the most students to the US were South Korea, Canada, Vietnam, Taiwan and Nigeria. Last academic year, record numbers of students came from Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, India, Italy, Nepal, Pakistan and Spain.
While more students are coming from overseas, many colleges are struggling to attract domestic students. According to a separate study by the National Student Clearinghouse, total enrolment at all colleges has remained in a slump in the wake of the pandemic, and first-year enrolment in autumn 2023 fell by 3.6 per cent.
