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IIE Backgrounder: Educational Exchange with India
November 13, 2006 -- Open Doors 2006, the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education (IIE), with support from the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, reports that the number of international students from India decreased by 5% to a total of 76,503 in academic year 2005/05. However, India remains the leading place of origin for students in the United States.
Click here for detailed information on academic level, historical trends and comments on the increase in the number of students from India.
Comments from Prof. Jane E. Schukoske, Executive Director, U.S. Educational Foundation in India (USEFI), New Delhi, regarding the release of Open Doors 2006:
“The U.S. continues to be the international destination of choice for Indian students, who comprise the largest number of international students in the U.S. for the fifth consecutive year in 2005-06, according to Open Doors 2006. Indian students and their parents know that U.S. higher education prepares graduates for tomorrow’s careers. Though the number of Indian students enrolled in U.S. institutions in 2005-06 declined from the previous year to 76,503, it is still 14% over the 2001-02 enrollment level of 66,836. Looking ahead, we see that there have been 24,622 visas issued to Indian students in the year ending September 30, 2006, and a 32% increase in 2006 graduate enrollments by Indian students reported by the Council of Graduate Schools. These are positive signs.”
“The strong Indo-U.S. relationship, illustrated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s July 2005 visit to the U.S. and President Bush’s March 2006 visit to India, encourages Indian students pursuing excellence in higher education to continue to enroll in U.S. colleges and universities. The word that the student visa system is functioning smoothly has reached Indian students, dispelling concerns that had arisen after 9/11.”
“We can expect to see Indian students enrolling in a larger number of U.S. institutions in the coming years. Institutions seeking to internationalize their campuses will naturally desire a cross-section of international students from a number of countries. Top university delegations coming to recruit in India often comment that they are not seeking more Indian students for their campuses, as many have a good representation of Indians already, but they are competing for the best Indian students with other U.S. institutions.”
“2006 has been declared the “Year of Study Abroad” by the U.S. Senate, which recognized that “studying abroad exposes students from the United States to valuable global knowledge and cultural understanding and forms an integral part of their education”. U.S. Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) is delighted to see that 1,767 U.S. students – an increase of 53% over the prior year – came to India, according to the report in Open Doors 2006. It is quite an achievement for India to have become the 20th leading destination for U.S. study abroad. As noted in the article “Destination India” in the Fall 2006 issue of IIE Networker, educators are realizing that the “New India” offers many important opportunities for study of contemporary development, environment, and the economy, as well as India’s multi-religious, multi-cultural democracy and rich history. USEFI sees increasing numbers of U.S. business schools bringing students to India to expose their students to the global business activity in the IT sector. The U.S. Department of State’s 2006 National Strategic Language Initiative, which includes Hindi and Urdu as strategic languages, will provide additional impetus to the growing numbers of U.S. students in India.”
Jane E. Schukoske
Executive Director
U.S. Educational Foundation in India
jschukoske@fulbright-india.org
November 13, 2006
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