New Delhi: Nearly 200,000 Indian students chose the United States as their higher education destination in the 2021-22 academic year, a 19 percent increase over the previous year’s 1,67,582, a survey by the US-based Institute of International Education has found.
Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy in the US Embassy, Gloria Berbena, in a press release said, “It’s clear Indian students and their parents recognise the value of a US education, one that prepares them to leverage their newly gained know-how to tackle the world’s challenges and readies them for future opportunities, whether that’s in artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, or entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Most Indian students in the US are registered for Masters programmes with a focus on engineering, Math and management related courses.
Nearly 21 percent of the over one million foreign students studying in the United States are Indians. Overall, the total number of international students pursuing higher education in the US rose by 4 per cent, from 9.14 lakh in 2020-21 to 9.48 lakh in 2021-22, the report showed.
The highest number of international students in the US continues to be from China. However, there was a drop of 8 percent in the academic year 2021-22 (2,90,086 students) from the previous year’s 3,17,299.
In 2021, the US witnessed a drop of 15 percent in the number of international students due to the pandemic.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) has published the Open Doors report through an annual statistical survey on international students since its founding in 1919. Since 1972, the survey has been conducted in partnership with the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Open Doors also reports on the number of international scholars at US universities and international students enrolled in pre-academic Intensive English Programs.
India could surpass China
The number of Indian students in the US has more than doubled from 97,000 in 2012-13 to close to 2,00,000 in 2021-22.
However, China sent only 235,597 students in 2012-13 as compared to 2,90,086 in 2021-22, showing a slower year-on-year growth. China’s share of international students in the US in 2012 was already 29 percent.
The growth rate of Indian students heading to the US is likely to surpass China in 2022-23, with 82,000 visas issued between June and August this year — the highest number among all countries.
The Open Doors surveyed 3,000 educational institutions and found that the country had international students from 210 countries.
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