During International Education Week, new statistics were published to track the trends of international students studying in the United States. According to the Open Doors Report 2010, international student enrollment increased 3% over last year, a new record high of 690,923 international students.
The growth of international student enrollment was primarily fueled by Chinese students which made a 30% leap compared to last year. The second largest group of international students – which make up 15% of all international students – are from India; there was only a slight increase of 2% enrollment of Indians compared to last year. To put this into perspective, China, India and South Korea make up almost have the total number of international students total.
Most of these international students are enrolled in business and management tracks as well as engineering, math and computer science. Moreover, international student enrollment is concentrated in the states of California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Even with these positive results, the Open Doors Report 2010 found that the growth of international student enrollment was curbed due to the worldwide economic downturn that preventing some families from sending their children overseas. As the economy continues to recover, these rates are expected to trend upward.
