Decline in Foreign Student Enrollment Slows
By Wendi Maloney
Two recent studies suggest that enrollment of international students in U.S. colleges and universities is leveling off after several years of decline.
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reported in November that first-time enrollment of international graduate students in U.S. institutions of higher education increased 1 percent in 2005 after having fallen for three consecutive years. Total enrollment of international students, however, dropped 3 percent. CGS notes that figures for total enrollment typically lag several years behind changes in first-time enrollment because of the length of time required to complete graduate degrees, especially PhDs. The report is based on an annual survey of international graduate admissions among CGS member institutions.
“This increase in first-time international students is a very good sign,” says CGS president Debra Stewart, cautioning that “returning to pre-2002 levels will require that the United States continue and enhance current efforts to attract the best and brightest students from around the globe.”
A separate study, Open Doors 2005, published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) found that enrollment of international undergraduate and graduate students at U.S. institutions of higher education dropped 1 percent in 2004–05 compared with the previous year. This year’s drop represents an improvement over 2003–04, when enrollment decreased by 2.4 percent. 2004–05 is the latest year for which IIE data are available.
“Colleges and universities have been proactive in reaching out to international students to let them know that they are welcome here,” says Allan Goodman, president of IIE. “Strong recruitment, combined with more efficient and transparent student visa processes, have begun to stem the tide of decreasing international student enrollment.”
The recent decline in enrollment of international students at U.S. universities has been widely attributed to visa problems following the attacks of September 11, 2001; recruitment of foreign students by other English-speaking countries; and perceptions among international students that they are no longer welcome in the United States. In a gesture seen as long overdue by some in the higher education community, the Bush administration convened a meeting of college and university presidents in early January to share ideas about how to increase international student exchanges. “America’s mission in this new century must be to welcome more foreign students to our nation and send more of our citizens abroad to study,” Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, told participants. “To be successful, our government and our universities must forge a new partnership for education exchange.”
Rice suggested that the government and universities might collaborate to improve U.S visa policies; expand existing scholarship programs, such as the Fulbright program; bring more international students to study in U.S. universities; and increase the number of educational exchanges with countries such as China, India, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
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