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U.S. students prefer India as key study destination

By SiliconIndia | Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 01:23 Hrs | 10 Comments

U.S. students prefer India as key study destination

Bangalore: just like U.S. is the top study destination for Indian students, India too is a preferred destination for U.S. students. A new survey has found out that India is one of the five nations preferred by the U.S. students as a key educational destination. China, Japan, South Africa and Argentina are among the other preferable educational destinations for U.S. students.

According to the Open Doors 2009 survey conducted by the Institute of International Education, the number of Americans studying abroad increased by 8.5 percent to 262,416 in the 2007-08 academic year. The survey shows that the number of students to nearly all of the top 25 destinations increased, notably to destinations less traditional for study abroad: China, Ireland, Austria and India (up about 20 percent each), as well as Costa Rica, Japan, Argentina and South Africa (up nearly 15 percent each).

At the same time, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the U.S. increased by eight percent to an all-time high of 671,616 in the 2008-09 academic year while the number of 'new' international students - those enrolled for the first time at a U.S. college or university in fall 2008 - increased by 16 percent.

This represents the largest percentage increase in international student enrollments since 1980 - 81. According to separate joint surveys conducted by eight leading higher education associations, overall enrollments of international students increased this autumn at half (50 percent or 348) of responding member campuses.

For the first time, the number of institutions reporting increases in students from India does not outweigh those who are reporting decline (29 percent reporting increase and 29 percent reporting decline).

When looking specifically at the largest host institutions (those 121 responding institutions enrolling more than 1,000 students), 50 percent of responding institutions are reporting a decline for students from India and only 31 percent are reporting an increase.

"Despite the economic downturn, many campuses are still seeing increase in international student enrollment for fall 2009, while others are seeing declines or flattening of enrollments," said Allan E. Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education (IIE). "The impact also varies by country, with reported declining enrollments from India and a few other countries offset on many campuses by surging number of students coming from China and strong increase from certain other major sending countries."

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Reader's comments(10)

1: No doubt, India has a number of institutes offering quality education. one such premier institute can be found in Pune, Maharashtra. SeamEdu is a creativerity offering great scope for liberal creative education like gemmology, animation, broadcast media, sound engineering and radio jockeying. visit their blog on www.seamlesseducationacademy.blogspot.com

Posted by:vishakha - 19 Nov, 2009

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I have US degree , spent lot of money almost 80 thousand dollars. As the economy is bad in US , they rejected my first H1 b visa. I left with lot of debt as punishment from US for investing thousands of dollars. My advice to aspiring students who wants to go to USA is please be careful, USA is a racist country and chances of getting job in USA is very slim atleast for another 10 years. Basically by investing lot of money in USA one will become fool of himself.

MS student Replied to: vishakha - 12 Oct, 2010

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3: Recent IIE numbers of fall'08 enrollment indicate increase in Indian students, however, optimism is misplaced as most of the growth has come from more students working on OPT. In fact, graduate level enrollment of Indian students have decreased by 3,300 students. there were 3,000 more Indian students enrolled for OPT. This increase in OPT is a result of the new rule issued in April 2008 that allowed students with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to extend the duration of OPT from 12 to 29 months. Thus, fall'08 numbers show a optimistic picture due to increase in students working on OPT. For the current academic year (09-10), graduate enrollment for Indian students is expected to further decrease as most of the student at this level seek financial support from university. More details available on http://tinyurl.com/yl7fpx7
Rahul Choudaha, PhD (www.DrEducation.com)

Posted by:Rahul Choudaha, PhD - 18 Nov, 2009

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4: Yeah we have great universities like JNU and Delhi University - thats the reason. Infact even some schools like Kodaikanal International school are preferred study destinations for foreign students.

Posted by:gunjan - 18 Nov, 2009

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MS student Replied to: gunjan - 12 Oct, 2010

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There are lot more than the ones you mentioned. Moreover americans benefit from low cost quality education in India as well as a completly new cultural experience. We must be clear that the motivations for Indians going to US is not the same for Americans coming to India. What we lack they have....advanced infrastructure, quality education but at price, what they lack....relatively low cost education, cost of living, rich culture and history and of course Indian hospitality.... we have, so it is rather complementary.

Danish Replied to: gunjan - 18 Nov, 2009

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MS student Replied to: Danish - 12 Oct, 2010

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I agree with Danish. Also in India the education is IT specific. The cost of education in US rose last year. But one can still get education cheaply here if they know how and they are a resident. Overseas travel and education is a plus.

christie33549 Replied to: Danish - 18 Nov, 2009

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I agree with Danish. US education in private school is running between $40,000 to $100,000+.

Nilesh Replied to: Danish - 18 Nov, 2009

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10:

MS student Replied to: Nilesh - 12 Oct, 2010

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