U.S. Newswire

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=56669



Open Doors 2005: Report on International Educational Exchange; U.S. Sees Slowing Decline in International Student Enrollment in 2004/05



Washington, November 14, 2005

In 2004/05, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions remained fairly steady at 565,039, off about 1 percent from the previous year's totals, according to Open Doors 2005, the annual report on international academic mobility published today by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with support from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The number of American students studying abroad for academic credit increased by 9.6 percent in 2003/04, to a record total of 191,321.

For the full report and comments from Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Dina Habib Powell and IIE's President Allan E. Goodman, please visit http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/. (if prompted, use "press" for both username and password.) Following are highlights from Open Doors 2005:

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT

"U.S. Sees Slowing Decline in International Student Enrollment in 2004/05: More than 565,000 International Students Enrolled In U.S. Institutions of Higher Education". Foreign student enrollment remained fairly steady at 565,039, off about 1 percent from the previous year's totals -- indicating a leveling off of enrollments, after last year's decline of 2.4 percent.

India is the leading place of origin for international students with 80,466 students in the U.S. in 2004/05 (an increase of 1 percent from the previous year), followed by no. 2 China (62,523, up 1 percent), no. 3 Korea (53,358, up 2 percent), no. 4 Japan (42,215, up 3 percent), no. 5 Canada (28,140, up 4 percent), no. 6 Taiwan (25,914, down 1 percent), no. 7 Mexico (13,063, down 2 percent), no. 8 Turkey (12,474, up 9 percent), no. 9 Germany (8,640, down 1 percent), no. 10 Thailand (8,637, down 3 percent).

USC hosts the largest number of international students. For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Southern California was the leading host institution (6,846). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted the second highest number of foreign students (5,560). Other campuses hosting the most foreign students were: University of Texas at Austin (5,333), Columbia University (5,278) New York University (5,140), Purdue University (4,921), University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor (4,632), Boston University (4,541), UCLA (4,217), and Ohio State University (4,140).

Funds from home: International students contribute approximately $13.3 billion dollars to the U.S. economy, through their expenditure on tuition and living expenses. Department of Commerce data describe U.S higher education as the country's fifth largest service sector export.

U.S STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD

"U.S. Study Abroad Increases by 9.6 percent, Continues Record Growth: More interest in non-traditional destinations; study abroad in China up by 90 percent, exceeding pre-SARS levels. "This strong increase builds on the previous year's 8.5 percent increase, and brings the total number of U.S. students abroad to a record 191,321. Since the academic year 2000/01 (pre-9/11), the number of U.S. students studying abroad has gone up by almost 20 percent.

Destinations. The United Kingdom continues to be the leading destination for U.S. students (32,237, up 2 percent) followed by Italy, with a very strong increase of 16 percent, to 21,922. The remaining "top ten" host destinations saw increases in the range of 5 to 7 percent: Spain (20,080, up 6 percent), France (13,718, up 5 percent), Australia (11,418, up 7 percent), Mexico (9,293, up 6 percent), Germany (5,985, up 7 percent), Ireland (5,198, up 6 percent) and Costa Rica (4,510, up 5 percent), with the exception of China's 90 percent increase.

For further information please contact: Deborah Gardner/Ashley Deiser, Halstead Communications 212-734-2190; dgardner@halsteadpr.com. Sharon Witherell/Hannah Thompson, IIE Public Affairs 212-984-5380; switherell@iie.org