[Discussion] Boom Times for Border Crossing

[Paksoy, Hb]

Boom Times for Border Crossing
As foreign enrollments grow, India becomes the largest exporter of students
to the U.S.

By DAVID L. WHEELER
 Chronicle of Higher Education
>From the issue dated November 22, 2002

India has become the largest exporter of foreign students to the United
States.

In the 2001-2 academic year, the number of Indians studying in the United
States shot up 22.3 percent, 
compared with growth of only 5.5 percent among students from China, which
had held the No. 1 spot in the past.

"I was stunned," said Allan E. Goodman, president of the Institute of
International Education. "This is a first for India." He attributed the
rapid growth in Indian students at American colleges to an increasingly
large and prosperous Indian middle class, with parents who regard American
higher education as the best.

India now has 66,836 students in the United States, compared with China's
63,211 students. The total number of foreign students in the United States
for the last academic year was 582,996, a 6.4-percent increase from 547,867
a year earlier.

The numbers are compiled by the institute for its annual statistical report,
known as "Open Doors," which also examines trends in study abroad by
Americans.

No 9/11 Effect

Last year's terrorist attacks may have left their imprint on the American
psyche, but they do not appear to have dimmed the attraction of the United
States for foreign students. The American colleges that give enrollment data
to the institute do so in October and November, and so their numbers should
reflect the loss of the foreign students who departed after the attacks.
Still, the numbers do not yet reflect the visa difficulties reported by some
foreign students who have been trying to come to the United States this
year.

The number of students who are coming from the Middle East, some of whom say
they are fearful of being attacked because of their religion or ethnicity,
actually increased 4.6 percent last year over the previous academic year,
although that rise masks drops among students from Oman, the United Arab
Emirates, and a few other countries. For reasons that are not clear, the
number of students coming to the United States from Western Europe fell by
1.7 percent. But growth in other regions, such as Asia, Central America, and
Africa, more than offset that small decline.

Mr. Goodman also took note of the steady growth in study abroad by
Americans. In the 2000-1 academic year, FOREIGN STUDENTS IN THE U.S., TOP
PLACES OF ORIGIN, 2001-2 
Country Number of students One-year change 
India 66,836 +22.3% 
China 63,211 +5.5% 
South Korea 49,046 +7.4% 
Japan 46,810 +0.7% 
Taiwan 28,930 +1.3% 
Canada 26,514 +4.9% 
Mexico 12,518 +17.3% 
Turkey 12,091 +10.1% 
Indonesia 11,614 -0.1% 
Thailand 11,606 +3.7% 
Germany 9,613 -5.1% 
Brazil 8,972 +1.4% 
Pakistan 8,644 +24.4% 
Britain 8,414 +3.4% 
Colombia 8,068 +19.3% 
SOURCE: Institute of International Education 
 
 
the most recent year for which the statistics have been compiled, study
abroad grew by 7.3 percent. While not a startling increase, steady
single-digit percentage increases have, over time, had an effect similar to
compound interest. In the 2000-1 year, 154,168 American students
participated in formal overseas programs, compared with 48,483 in 1985-86.

Mr. Goodman said he would like to see more study-abroad participation, but
he regards attitudes, not money, as the biggest barrier: "American academics
don't get up in the morning and say, Where should we send our students?"

Europe Less Popular

He said it was heartening that Americans have moved slowly away from
traditional study-abroad destinations, such as Britain, and toward places
that have not been as popular in the past, such as Latin America, Asia, and
Africa. The proportion of American study-abroad participants in Europe has
decreased from 79.6 percent in the 1985-86 academic year to 63.1 percent in
2000-1. Mr. Goodman said American students sometimes "need to study in a
culture wholly different from their own, not just one that has a different
brand of beer."

This year's "Open Doors" data on study abroad do not reflect what happened
after the September 11 attacks because the numbers were collected only
through the summer of 2001. But informal online surveys the institute
conducted in October 2001 and again in August of this year, combined with
anecdotal evidence, indicate that students' interest in study abroad remains
strong. Ninety-eight percent of the educators who responded to the August
survey said that, since the terrorist attacks, international educational
exchange had been seen as more important or equally as important on their
campuses.

In addition, the scholarship and fellowship programs that the institute
administers have had large increases in applicants. The National Security
Education Program, for example, which supports students interested in going
to less-popular destinations, including Africa, the Middle East, and Latin
America, had a 50-percent jump in applications this year.

In the past, the survey has included data on foreign scholars coming to the
United States in its initial release, but this year's survey lacks that
information, because the deadline to submit information has been extended.

More "Open Doors" information can be found at the international institute's
Web site (http://opendoors.iienetwork.org).

COLLEGES WITH LARGEST NUMBERS OF FOREIGN STUDENTS, 2001-2  
  Number of foreign students Proportion of total enrollment 
1. U of Southern California 5,950 20.0% 
2. New York U 5,504 14.8% 
3. Columbia U 5,116 22.8% 
4. Purdue U Main Campus 4,695 12.4% 
5. U of Texas at Austin 4,673 9.2% 
6. Boston U 4,412 15.9% 
7. Ohio State U Main Campus 4,302 8.9% 
8. U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 4,287 11.4% 
9. U of Michigan at Ann Arbor 4,149 10.8% 
10. U of Florida 3,884 8.5% 
11. U of Pennsylvania 3,820 17.5% 
12. U of Wisconsin at Madison 3,744 9.0% 
13. Florida International U 3,723 11.7% 
14. U of Maryland at College Park 3,711 10.9% 
15. Texas A&M U at College Station 3,563 8.0% 
16. Pennsylvania State U at University Park 3,484 8.5% 
16. Houston Community College System 3,484 8.5% 
18. Harvard U 3,448 18.8% 
19. U of Houston 3,380 10.2% 
20. U of Minnesota-Twin Cities 3,356 7.1% 
21. Arizona State U Main Campus 3,348 7.3% 
22. Indiana U at Bloomington 3,325 8.8% 
23. State U of New York at Buffalo 3,237 12.5% 
24. Wayne State U 3,233 10.4% 
25. Montgomery College (Md) 3,217 14.1% 
SOURCE: Institute of International Education 
 

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