Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 2005 (IPS) — The plunge in the number of foreign students enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks appears to have leveled off over the past year, according to the latest edition of “Open Doors”, the annual survey of the Institute of International Education (IIE) released here Monday.

International enrollment fell about one percent for the 2004-05 academic year – to 565,039 – after a more dramatic drop of 2.4 percent the previous year, according to the report.

Declines in enrollment by students from Muslim countries, with the exception of Turkey, also continued, albeit at a lower rate, last year. Modest increases in the numbers of students from Asian nations, which accounted for almost 60 percent of all foreign enrollments in 2004-5, helped make up those losses.

Enrollments by foreign students are believed to have risen slightly at the start of the current academic year in September, according to an on-line survey of college administrators that was also released Monday by IIE and half a dozen associations of higher education.

More colleges and universities, according to that survey, reported increases in the number of foreign students than those reporting declines, suggesting a modest reversal of the post-9/11 plunge.

That survey bolstered yet another report released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), which found that the number of international students entering U.S. graduate programmes rose one percent for the current academic year, reversing several years of decline.

The reports have come as a considerable relief to both school administrators, who have stepped up their foreign recruitment efforts over the past two years, and U.S. scholarly and scientific organisations that have been cautioned against George W. Bush administration moves that have made it more difficult for many foreigners to come to the U.S. to study and do research.

They have warned that continued declines in the numbers of foreign students coming to the U.S. not only hurts the balance sheet of many U.S. institutions of higher learning, but also threatens the country’s long-term competitiveness in research and development (R&D), which has historically depended on a steady inflow of foreign scientists and engineers most of whom first came here as students.

“It is encouraging to see the apparent growth this fall in new enrollments of international students on U.S. campuses, as shown in this early survey response,” said Allan Goodman, president of the Washington-based IIE.

“We need to continue these concerted efforts and get the message out that America’s doors are still open to international students, in order to attract the best and the brightest students from all over the world,” he added.

In yet another survey released Monday, IIE said that the number of U.S. students enrolled in study-abroad programmes in the 2003-04 academic year increased by a whopping 9.6 percent to nearly 200,000, a record. That marked an increase of nearly 20 percent since the 2000-2001 academic year, which ended just before the 9/11 attacks.

The vast majority of those students, however, spent less than six months abroad, and some two-thirds studied at European, Canadian, or Australian institutions.

U.S. students going to China, on the other hand, increased by 90 percent over the previous year in 2003-04, to nearly 5,000, making it the 9th leading host destination. Similarly, the number of students who traveled to the Middle East rose by 62 percent, to 1,050, although nearly two-thirds of those pursued study in Israel, rather than its predominantly Muslim neighbours.

As in the past decade, Asians were far more numerous than any other regional group among foreign students in the U.S. in 2004-05, with India’s nearly 81,000 students leading the pack for the fourth straight year.

China, the second-largest sending country with nearly 63,000 students, increased its presence by one percent, after a decline of five percent in 2003-04, while South Korea took the third spot, also for the fourth year in a row, with some 53,000 students, followed by Japan, with 42,000, a three percent increase from the previous year.

Canada, the only non-Asian country in the top five, sent 28,000 students to the U.S., followed by Taiwan (26,000), Mexico (13,000), and Turkey (12,500) – a nine percent increase over the previous year.

Of the top 20 sending countries, the sharpest declines in enrollment in U.S. institutions included Indonesia (down 13 percent to 7,760); Kenya (down nine percent to some 6,700); Pakistan (down 14 percent) to 6,300), and Malaysia (down five percent o about 6,100). Three of the four are predominantly Muslim countries.

Enrollments by students from the Middle East, which includes Israel and Turkey, were down two percent in the last academic year, to some 36,000, compared to a nine percent decline in 2003-2004.

For specific predominantly Arab countries, however, the accumulated declines have become dramatic. Enrollments by Saudi students were down 14 percent last year, to some 3,000, on top of a 16-percent decline the previous year.

The number of students from the United Arab Emirates fell seven percent last year, to 1,200, compared to a 30-percent decline in 2003-04. Similarly, enrollment by Kuwaitis fell seven percent, to 1,720, after a 17-percent decline the previous year; while Jordan sent five percent fewer students, some 1,750, after a 15-percent decline in 2003-04.

By itself, however, Turkey made up most of the difference by sending nearly 12,500 students last year.

Other regions that saw declines in enrollment included Africa (down five percent to 36,000) and Latin America (down three percent to nearly 68,000).

In addition to more aggressive recruitment activities by U.S. colleges and universities, the Bush administration has tried to expedite the process for obtaining student visas after imposing stricter procedures in the wake of 9/11. But, as suggested by the still declining numbers of enrollments from predominantly Muslim countries, these efforts have not yet succeeded in reversing the tide.

“The United States remains the best place in the world to pursue higher education and we continue to assure international students that they are welcome in our country,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Dina Habib Powell, who in her confirmation hearings stressed the recruitment of more students from the Arab world as a major goal of U.S. policy in the region.

IIE said the overall decline in international students here was due a number of factors, including real and perceived difficulties in obtaining student visas, particularly for scientific and technical studies; rising U.S. tuition costs; and increasingly aggressive recruitment efforts by other English-speaking nations, including Britain, Australia, and Canada.

In addition, universities in a number of middle-income countries, including India and China, have greatly improved their own educational institutions, according to the report. It noted, however, that the U.S. remains highly competitive, particularly at the post-graduate level. The number of foreign students enrolling in doctoral programmes in the 350 largest U.S. universities increased eight percent in 2004-05, it noted.

Business and management, engineering, and mathematics and computer sciences remained the most popular fields of study for foreign students in 2004-05, accounting for some 43 percent of all enrollments.