For the first time in fifteen years, Indian students have surpassed Chinese students as the largest group of foreign students in the United States.
There are currently 331,602 Indian foreign students in the United States, up 23% from the previous academic year, while there are 277,398 Chinese international students, down 4.2%, according to new data issued by the State Department in collaboration with the Institute of foreign Education.
With numbers considerably under 50,000, South Korea, Canada, and Taiwan are far behind as the next most popular countries of origin for international students.
Chinese international students, who have historically made up the largest student body at American schools and universities, have been declining year since the pandemic. During the same period after COVID, the number of Indian students has increased significantly.
Experts attribute the shift to the U.S. government’s shifting stance toward China, the lingering effects of travel restrictions from the pandemic, the allure of computer science and engineering degrees at American institutions, and other factors.
According to Gaurav Khanna, an assistant professor of economics and immigration specialist at the University of California, San Diego, there was a decline in the number of Chinese students moving there before it really took a nosedive during COVID-19. When American universities realized that the number of Chinese students was declining and that they needed to find another supply of highly qualified foreign students, they began to look to India.
The number of Indian overseas students studying in the United States has almost doubled since the outbreak. Mirka Martel, head of research, evaluation, and learning at IIE, attributed some of this to subcontinental demographic patterns.
Studying in the United States is becoming more and more popular as the number of Indians who are of university age rises. According to a Pew Research Center estimate, almost 40% of Indians are under 25, and the country’s population is aging more slowly than that of China and the United States.
According to her, graduate students make up the great majority of Indian students visiting the United States, especially those pursuing degrees in math, computer science, or engineering. Outside of India, their graduate study opportunities are very alluring.
According to Khanna, they also frequently wish to remain in the United States and find employment after graduation.
According to Martel and Khanna, Chinese overseas students usually have different priorities. According to Khanna, the fact that institutions outside of China were more reasonably priced than those in China was a major factor in the 2000s surge of Chinese students studying in the United States.
Now, the United States is less viable and desirable due to geopolitical factors.
According to Martel, the primary cause of the significant rises in the 2010s was the influx of Chinese students pursuing undergraduate degrees.
According to Khanna, the slowdown in Chinese student immigration started in 2016 when ties with China started to deteriorate, but it suffered a significant knock during COVID-19.
According to him, the U.S. government started to thoroughly examine and turn away students from any university thought to have military ties to China. Many people’s aspirations to visit the United States were also tempered by government officials’ anti-Chinese comments.
He claimed that the discourse surrounding that didn’t sit well with Chinese students.
Since 2009, when both groups were only around one-third of what they are today, the number of Indian international students has not surpassed that of Chinese students.
Despite brief declines in the wake of 9/11 and COVID, the overall number of international students has continuously increased in the 75 years since data collection started, according to Martel.
According to her, trends in international education have transcended political boundaries. Everyone gains from international education.
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