SLOWING TREND
Foreign students still flocking to U.S., but in smaller numbers
A new men’s hockey team at Chatham University helped bring eight Canadians and a Swede to campus.
It’s one more reason the private institution with 2,300 students owns a modest share of the international enrollment boom on America’s campuses, its 110 foreign students from 26 countries making Chatham classrooms feel a bit more global and helping to fill seats.
But recruiting those students is getting harder for reasons ranging from stiffer competition overseas to harsh rhetoric in the United States about foreigners, said Chris Musick, Chatham’s assistant vice president for international affairs. High-profile shootings around the nation haven’t helped, either.
“People in other countries think every American has a gun,” he said.
It’s why a new national report with some unsettling numbers is likely to get a closer look from campus recruiters.
In a survey released Monday, the Institute of International Education (IIE) finds that while foreign enrollment overall was up by just over 3 percent nationally to more than one million students, the number of new overseas students is down. It is
the first decline since the institute began tracking those first-time students in 2004.
In all, 1,078,822 students were enrolled during 201617, the most current year available, a gain smaller than the previous year’s increase of 7 percent, according to the institute.
The decline of about 10,000 first-time international students reduced the total to 291,000, a 3 percent loss.
Of greater concern may be a smaller survey of schools taken this fall suggesting the loss of new international students in 2017-18 could be as great as 7 percent.
Officials with IIE including President and CEO Allan Goodman cited varied reasons for the flattening numbers, among them rising campus costs in the U.S. and various economic issues globally that kept some students home.
For instance, Brazil and Saudi Arabia reduced government scholarship programs and sent fewer students, 32 percent less and 14 percent less, respectively.
Asked about declines this fall on their campuses, some schools added to the mix of reasons “an uncertain U.S. social and political climate,” the IIE said.
The slowdown notwithstanding, enrollment in the United States has grown 85 percent in a decade. It’s one reason officials say they are not panicking.
“What we’re hearing from campuses is they realize this is a wake-up call and they need to start very seriously reviewing their strategies for international recruiting,” said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the IIE president.
“Are they diversified enough? This is especially true of schools that had relied heavily on governmentfunded students from Brazil and Saudi Arabia.”
Chatham says the influx of students from as far away as India gives those learners a closeup look at U.S. culture. In turn, it better prepares American students by challenging their views on topics from Thoreau to terrorism.
“If it’s just a group of American students, it’s a very different classroom discussion than if, say, you bring in someone from the Philippines, the Middle East or Israel,” Mr. Musick said.
Countries including Germany, France and Japan are wooing students by offering entire degree programs in English, giving students alternatives to the United States.
“There’s the Trump in the room,” added Mr. Musick, alluding to president’s fiery rhetoric on matters including a Muslim ban and visas. Mr. Musick said that as people get used to hearing those words, the effect may be waning.
“I think some of that has worn off,” he said.
The institute’s survey found a mixed picture, with some campuses seeing declines and others gains.
“If I were a small liberal arts institution in the middle of nowhere, I would be scared to death,” Mr. Musick said. “We’re in Pittsburgh. I think we’re going to weather this fine, or at least better than some of our counterparts in less desirable locations.”
Shashanka Hassan, 19, a Chatham sophomore from India, said some of his high school friends ended up on campuses in the United Kingdom and Belgium. “I chose the U.S. because some of my cousins did graduate work here and thought it was pretty good,” he said.
Learning in the United States promotes creativity, he said. He managed to navigate the complicated visa process, but friends back home who were hoping to watch him in a karate championship in Maine in June weren’t so fortunate. “They didn’t get visas, so they stayed home,’’ he said.
The Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange is published by IIE, a not-for-profit organization that promotes global education.
It said overall enrollment gains the past couple years largely are because of students staying longer in the U.S. for practical post-degree training in their field.
China once again topped all nations in students coming to the U.S. at 350,755, up nearly 7 percent. That nation and India, which sent 186,267 students, accounted for just under half of the total international enrollment in the U.S. in 2016-17.
India, for the third consecutive year, grew at a faster rate than China.
South Korea, with 58,663 students, was down by four percent but moved ahead of Saudi Arabia, which saw its numbers decline 14 percent to 52,611.
Canada remained the fifth largest exporter of students to America.
California was the largest host state. It received 156,879 students. The next four in rank were New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Illinois.
Pennsylvania ranked sixth with 51,129 students, and schools with the largest international enrollments in this state all saw gains.
They include Penn State University, 9,134 students; Carnegie Mellon University at 7,653, the University of Pennsylvania at 6,471; the University of Pittsburgh at 4,018, and Drexel University, at 3,989.
Students arriving from other parts of the world are most likely to study engineering.
Business and management, math and computer science and the social sciences also are popular majors.
Study abroad by Americans grew by 4 percent to 325,339. The top destination was the United Kingdom.