Comparatively few South Africans are studying in US

ALTHOUGH American universities are actively seeking top South African students, only a fraction are taking up places abroad compared with other sub-Sarahan countries.

Five times more students travel to the US from the rest of Africa than from South Africa. This week, education specialist at the US Consulate-General in Durban, Susan Knowles, said in the 2015/16 academic year, 1 813 South African students took up places at US tertiary institutions, while 10 000 Nigerian students were accepted, followed by Ghana with 3 000 students.

Top students from across the globe compete for places at US universities, particularly at the prestigious or “Ivy League” institutions.

Knowles said in the 2015/16 academic year, 329 000 Chinese students were enrolled at US universities, followed by India with 167 000 students, and Saudi Arabia taking up third place with 61 000 students. These figures included undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

“We would love to see these numbers increase. We find that South African students want to study in the field of business, sciences and health- related fields, and engineering,” said Knowles.

Many foreign students go to the US on educational exchange programmes, such as the Fulbright Scholarship, which is for Master’s or doctoral degree students.

Although the rand/dollar exchange rate makes it expen- sive to study in the US, with a year of studies costing between $18 000 (R242 000) to $65 000, there are many partial or full scholarships on offer, according to Knowles.

“The catch is, the more a course costs, the stronger you need to be because you are competing with students from across the globe.

“To get a full scholarship, you would need a minimum 80 percent aggregate, while a 70-75 percent aggregate would be required for a partial scholarship, although this varies.

“There are more than 1 000 universities in the US,” she said.

There is no school-leaving certificate in America because students sit for an SAT exam for university entrance, which, according to Knowles, South African students should aim at completing in Grade 11 should they wish to apply for a place.

“Our universities are holistic, so not only good grades are required. We also look at leadership quality, initiative, work experience or volunteerism. We recognise the government matric, IEB and Cambridge school-leaving results.

“There are more than one million international students in the US, and South African students do well in general,” she said.

US degree courses are normally for four years, with major subjects only decided at the end of the first year, which gives room for flexibility. Double majors are also available.

For more information, go to the Education USA IN SA Facebook page.