•  washington
• Wednesday, November 16, 2011
• Inter Press Service

For the fifth consecutive year, the number of international students studying in the U.S. increased, hitting an all-time record high, according to a report released Monday by the Institute of International Education (IIE) at the start of International Education Week.

The number of international students studying in the U.S. has been steadily climbing since experiencing a decline in the years after Sep. 11, 2001. With total U.S. enrollment estimated to be about two million, international students comprise less than four percent of total enrollment, according to the report. But while more international students studied in the U.S. last year than during any time in the nation's history — a total of 723,277 foreign students in the 2010-2011 school year - less than two percent of U.S. college and university students studied abroad during the same period, according to the IIE report.

Speaking in a videotaped message on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged U.S. students to apply for passports and 'not just think globally but get out there and study globally as well'.

The IIE report, called the 'Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange', is based on a survey of 3,000 U.S. institutes of higher education and published annually with support from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

China, India top the list

China was the top sending country for the second year in a row, with 157,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S. last school year. China surpassed India as the top sending country in 2008-2009. India maintained 14 percent of 'all international students in U.S. higher education, with tens of thousands more students from India in U.S. higher education than in any other host country.'

India and South Korea were the second and third top sending countries, together with China comprising 'nearly half (46 percent) of the total international enrollments in U.S. higher education,' according to the report.

Canada, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Japan were respectively the next top sending countries, with enrolling students from Saudi Arabia increasing by 44 percent. The report attributes this to a 'large Saudi government scholarship program that has been ramping up over the past few years'.

Japan and Kenya saw double-digit percentage declines in the number of students from those countries enrolling in U.S. higher educational institutes.

The report also highlighted U.S. Department of Commerce statistics showing international students contribute more than 21 billion dollars to local economies. Sixty-three percent of international students 'receive the majority of their funds from personal and family sources', according to the report.

California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Illinois held their places as the top five destination states for international students, although the report shows that Ohio and Pennsylvania moved up on the list of top destinations.

The University of Southern California was the leading host institution for the tenth year in a row, hosting more than 8,000 international students last academic year, followed closely behind by the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, New York University and Purdue, respectively.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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