International Students in USA, US Students Abroad, both at all-time high

International Students in the USA

The number of international students studying at colleges and universities in the USA (2008/2009 schoolyear) increased by 8% to 671,616, and the number of US students abroad (2007/2008 school year) increased by 8.5% to 262,416. Both the inbound and outbound totals, released by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in its annual Open Doors Report on November 16, 2009, are all-time highs. The report stresses that any impact from the global economic downturn may not be reflected in these numbers, as the commitment to study overseas was made prior to last fall for most of these students.

For international students in the USA, Canada overtook Japan for fourth place but otherwise the top five sending countries remain the same:

India 103,260 +9.2%
China 98,235 +21.1%
South Korea 75,065 +8.6%
Canada 29,697 +2.2%
Japan 29,264 -13.9%

India and China continue their dramatic growth, as enrollment by Chinese students in the US increased 21.1%, while Indian student enrollment grew by 9.2%.

The University of Southern California remained the top single destination for international students, with 7,482 international students.

For more information and data regarding international student enrollment in the USA, see the Open Doors press release and the international student data tables.

US Students Abroad

Although Western European destinations continue to be most popular for US students abroad, with England, Italy, Spain and France taking the top four spots, China, India and several other countries continue to grow in popularity. Shorter-term programs are very popular, and there are 23 US colleges that send 80% or more of their students abroad. IIE releases tons of information and statistics, so feel free to follow the links below to learn all you want about the enrollment of US students abroad.

For more information and data regarding US students abroad, see the Open Doors Press Release and the study abroad data tables.

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Posted in International Education, International Financial Aid News