Fewer Indian Students Going To U.S.; China Surges Ahead

China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada were noted to be the top five countries from where the U.S is hosting international students. Saudi Arabia recorded for a big 50 percent rise, with the number of its students going up from 22,704 in 2010-2011 to 34,139 in 2011-2012.

The survey also revealed that California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Illinois were the top five states for foreign students, while the top five universities included University of Southern California, Los Angeles; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; New York University, Purdue University; West Lafayette; and Columbia University, New York, with each hosting more than 8000 international students.

It was noted that about 50 percent of foreign students in the U.S. study Business and Management (21.8 percent), Engineering (18 percent), and Math and Computer Science (9.3 percent), while Humanities and Agriculture formed the bottom of the list.

Further, nearly 60 percent of Indian students in U.S. were noted to be in the fields of engineering (36.7 percent) and math and computer sciences (21.7 percent). The numbers for China are 19.6 percent (engineering) and 11.2 percent (math and computer sciences). Shockingly, there were twice as many Chinese students (28.7 percent) pursuing business/management as Indian students (14.1 percent) who were in U.S. management schools.

The survey showed an expansion in the total number of international students in U.S. higher education, and there now are 31 percent more international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities than there were a decade ago.