U.S.: Indian Enrollment up as Sep. 11 Shakes up Student Exchanges

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 2002 (IPS) - India has become the largest source of foreign students in U.S. universities and colleges, according to a new report which found that the aftermath of last year’s Sep. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon has hurt student exchanges between the United States and the Middle East.

The report, released Monday by the Institute of International Education (IIE), found that some 67,000 Indians enrolled in U.S. tertiary-level schools in the last academic year, up by 22 percent over the previous year, surpassing China which had been the leading source country through much of the late 1990s.

The total number of foreign students enrolled in either two-year U.S. community colleges, four-year colleges, or universities grew to a record 583,000 last year, an increase of 6.4 percent over the 2000-2001 academic year which was also a record, according to the report, the latest in an annual series called ‘Open Doors’.

At the same time, however, IIE reported declines in the enrollment of students from predominantly Muslim countries, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Less dramatic falls were reported for Kuwait, Malaysia, and Egypt.

The declines were attributed mainly to slower processing of visa applications from most of these countries by U.S. authorities after the Sep. 11 attacks, which were carried out by 19 Arab men associated with al-Qaeda, 15 of them from Saudi Arabia.

In addition, students from these countries may entertain greater concerns about their own security in the United States, according to the report, which suggested that Canadian, British, and Australian institutions of higher education are likely to be the chief beneficiaries of this trend.

Many students from these countries who were already in the United States were interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and new regulations issued in September require that all men from Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia be finger-printed by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) on entry into the United States.

Declines in enrollment by South-east Asian students, on the other hand, were attributed in part to after-effects of the 1997 financial crisis there, as well as concern about post-Sep. 11 anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

But the ”war on terrorism” appears to have worked the other way, too, according to the report, which found that the number of U.S. students studying in the Middle East, almost 4,000 in 2000-2001, fell 60 percent last year.

Israel, which normally receives about 75 percent of all U.S. students in the region, was particularly hard hit.

Overall, the number of U.S. college students enrolled in foreign universities increased by 7.4 percent last year, reaching a record total of 154,000, according to the report. It noted, however, that the terms of study by U.S. students abroad are generally much shorter than foreign students here.

Nearly 50 percent of the U.S. students in the tally spent less than four months – some as little as one month – in study abroad, according to the report.

The general trend of continuing increases of foreign students in U.S. schools and of U.S. students abroad in spite of the trauma of Sep. 11 was taken as a positive sign by education and U.S. officials here.

”Despite efforts by terrorists to isolate America from the rest of the world, the response by American students and American campuses is to become more intensely engaged in international affairs,” said Allan Goodman, who said he was especially pleased by the rising numbers of foreign students here.

”International students continue to see the U.S. as their premier study destination and our campuses continue to welcome them in record numbers, knowing that their presence in our classrooms strengthens our own understanding of global issues and improves the chances for peace and development around the globe,” he said.

As a regional group, Asian students dominated the foreign student body in the United States, accounting for 56 percent of all enrollment. The next greatest percentage were students from Europe at 14 percent, then Latin America with 12 percent, the Middle East with 7 percent, Africa with 6 percent, and Canada and Oceania with 5 percent.

Overall, the most popular fields of study for foreign students last year were business and management, engineering, mathematics and computer science. About half of all foreign students specialised in those subjects.

As for source nations, India and China led the pack with 67,000 and 63,000, respectively, followed by Korea (49,000), Japan (47,000), Taiwan (30,000), Canada (27,000), Mexico (13,000), Turkey, Indonesia, and Thailand with about 12,000 each.

The number of Indian students enrolled in U.S. schools doubled in just seven years, but has grown in leaps and bounds since 1999, according to the report. Almost 75 percent of Indians registered in post-secondary schools last year were in graduate schools.

”The U.S. is seen as an education destination that builds a strong base for careers,” said Jane Schukoske, director of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India. ”Students who do not gain admission to India’s premier institutions see the U.S. as an alternative that will open doors for them in the future.”

Another foundation official, Vijaya Khandavilli, noted that the rapid growth in the Indian upper-middle class, combined with liberalisation of India’s foreign exchange laws, may also have contributed to the rise in Indian enrollment here.

While Asians were dominant among foreign students here, almost two-thirds of U.S. students abroad went to Europe. Latin American universities attracted 15 percent of the 154,000 U.S. students who went abroad last year.

The single country with the greatest increase in U.S. students over the previous year was Cuba, up 64 percent over 2000-2001, at 905.

The survey found that the University of Southern California (USC) replaced New York University as the leading host institution, with nearly 6,000 foreign students last year.

The report also confirmed California as the leading host state with nearly 80,000 foreign students. Of all cities, New York had the greatest number with 35,000

U.S.: Indian Enrollment up as Sep. 11 Shakes up Student Exchanges

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 2002 (IPS) - India has become the largest source of foreign students in U.S. universities and colleges, according to a new report which found that the aftermath of last year’s Sep. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon has hurt student exchanges between the United States and the Middle East.
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