Rate of increase slows among foreign students coming to U.S.
When students overseas weigh college study in the U.S. — for most, a journey into the unknown that can stretch family income — the calculus includes not just strength of programs here and cost, but this: What kind of country awaits?
For some, the answer may be a country increasingly wary of foreigners, where mass shootings make headlines more frequently. Or it could be a place where they will be embraced on and off campus, where instruction is so enriching that American higher education is worth it, no matter the price.
Or it could be none of that matters — at least as much — since an increasing number of other countries are effectively wooing those students with everything from scholarship aid to a path to citizenship.
A new study on international enrollment in the U.S. released Tuesday paints a complicated picture, officials said. On one hand, total enrollment grew by almost 2 percent, topping a million students for the third consecutive year, another record high. But the rate of that growth has slowed, and the number of new foreign students is down by nearly 7 percent.
Leaders of the Institute of International Education, which publishes the report, point to various factors and note that the pattern varies significantly by campus. That was true of numbers from Pennsylvania.
The largest campus in this state, Penn State University at University Park, saw a 5 percent decline in 2017-18, while the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania secured gains of 6, 12 and 5 percent, respectively.
Economic and birth rate shifts globally, as well as how much student aid sending countries offer, all impact enrollment levels here, as do shifts in visa rules and other government actions that affect arrivals.
Allan Goodman, president of the New York City-based IIE, said it’s hard to emphasize any single factor, though he did not dispute that attitudes about immigration and perceptions of violence are among family concerns.
“The international education consumer is always concerned about access, diversity, quality, cost and safety,” he said.
“We’re not hearing that they feel they can’t get in,” he said of
government rules. “We’re hearing that they have choices.”
The Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange is produced yearly by IIE, a not-for-profit organization advocating global education. The report puts total enrollment of foreign students at 1,094,792 for 2017-18, the most current year available, an increase of 15,970 students from 201617.
It was smaller than the 3 percent gain the previous year and a 7 percent increase the year before that. This year’s growth is mainly in the Optional Practical Training program, or OPT, that allows students to stay in this country for up to 36 months in some cases to practice their skills.
A more limited survey of new international students was conducted this fall. Results are not yet available.
A parallel study by IIE finds the number of students studying abroad grew by a little over 2 percent to 332,727 for 2016-17, the most current data. Officials said about 1 in 10 undergraduates now enroll in study outside the U.S. for academic credit at their home institutions.
Officials with IIE said the U.S. remains the top draw for foreign students, about double the next closest nation. Their time here leads to better understanding of the U.S. and injects $42 billion yearly to the nation’s economy, officials said.
International students account for about 6 percent of this country’s 20 million college students. In the past few years, those working with international students on some campuses have expressed concern that hardening rhetoric from this country and immigration policy changes under the Trump administration might give some families pause.
In Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, one of the city’s three largest universities, has felt the downturn. But an administrator there remains confident that numbers will grow, given its programs, its values-based education and location within a city that has qualities of the
East Coast and cultural aspects of the Midwest.
Joseph DeCrosta, executive director in Duquesne’s Center for Global Engagement, said many students want more immersion into American culture than they get simply by being on campus, and the Catholic university obliges with such outreach as “Twenty Dinners,” a program where faculty and other employees open their homes to visiting students for meals and conversation.
“We’re trying our best to get them out into the local communities,” he said.
Fabiana van der Wegen, 22, a Duquesne student from Uden, Netherlands, recalled her visit last year to the Shadyside home of a health science professor who cooked Italian and invited her own family to join the
students.
“Not only did I get to know other international students better, but it was nice to have that personal connection with the professor,” she said.
The Duquesne senior, a double major in international business and supply chain management, belongs to a student organization that brings together experienced overseas students at Duquesne with new campus arrivals.
Mr. DeCrosta said Duquesne’s 9,300 students include about 700 from other countries, most notably China, Saudi Arabia, India, Canada, Nigeria, Germany, Vietnam, Turkey, Brazil, Bangladesh and Colombia. The total was 800 a few years back, and Mr. DeCrosta said he hopes to eventually enroll about 1,000 international students.
One of the represented countries at Duquesne, Saudi Arabia, sent nearly 16 percent fewer students to the U.S. in 2017-18, attributable to factors including a reduction in available aid in that country.
Among all countries, China topped the list. It sent 363,341, up by about 4 percent; next were India, 196,271, up by 5 percent; South Korea, 54,555, down 7 percent; Saudi Arabia, 44,432, after a 16 percent decline; and Canada, 25,909, down 4 percent. They alone accounted for two-thirds of foreign enrollment in the U.S.
The biggest percentage increases were Nepal at 14 percent and Brazil at 12 percent.
California was the top host state with 161,942 students. Next was New York at 121,260, followed by Texas at 84,348, Massachusetts at 68,192 and Illinois with 53,362. Pennsylvania was sixth with 51,817 students.
Penn State was the 14thlargest destination among U.S institutions with 8,636 students at University Park. Carnegie Mellon University ranked 15th, with 8,604 international students.
The next largest Pennsylvania draws were the University of Pennsylvania, 6,819; the University of Pittsburgh, 4,246; and Drexel University, 3,908.
Among foreign students, engineering was most popular field, followed by business and management and math and computer sciences. They alone account for two-thirds of international students.
Among study abroad students, the STEM fields of science technology engineering and math are top, followed by business. They represent 46 percent of students. Those students are becoming more diverse. In 2006-07, 18 percent were nonwhite, but that number was 29 percent as of 2016-17.
The IIE has conducted an annual statistical survey or international enrollment since its founding in 1919. This year’s report was released jointly by its partner since the 1970s, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.