The US is once again attracting large numbers of international students!! Right?

The Institute of International Education (IIE) recently released  its annual Open Doors report on the number of international students in the US.  The press release for the report is headlined

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ON U.S. CAMPUSES AT ALL-TIME HIGH

Total foreign student numbers up 7%; New enrollments up 10%

That sound like good news! We are finally coming back from the post 9/11 drop off in international students. US higher education has once again regained its allure!

Or has it?

Included in these numbers are a couple of interesting categories.   The first is enrollment in  “non-degree programs”, primarily intensive English.  The second is “Optional Practical Training” (OPT). This enables undergraduate and graduate students with an F-1 student visa to work for periods up to one year in temporary employment directly related to their major fields of study.  The one-year period has recently been extended for students in the STEM areas, and provisions have been loosened for cases in which an employer has requested a H-1B visa for the student. 

When we look at the numbers, we find that the total number of international undergraduates is up this year by a relatively modest 4.6%, the total number of international graduates, by similarly modest 4.8%.  The real growth is in the non-degree students, 20.1%, and OPT, a whopping 36.3%.  We should, of course, be delighted for a variety of reasons to see these latter two categories grow.  However, they do not relate to the comparative attractiveness of our core higher education offerings.  And growth in OPT, because the rules are rapidly changing, is difficult to evaluate. 

Similarly, if we look at the vaunted new enrollment growth  (where OPT is not considered) number of 10%, we find a similar breakdown.  That is,  UG first year international undergrads are up 7.0%, grads, 7.9%, and non-degree students, 27.7%.

However, the real question is, “how are we doing compared to everyone else?”  I don’t find any up-to-date global data to compare to the US IIE results for 2008.  The most recent OECD report, Education at a Glance 2008, contains data on transnational education only up through 2006.  That report shows that for the period 2000-2006, the number of students enrolled in higher education outside of their country of origin grew on the average at 7.5% per year (Table C3.6).  During that period, the US share of all transnational students fell from 25.1% to 20% (Table C3.7). 

The  foreign student numbers reported in Open Doors that should be compared to the OECD data (UG, G, and non-degree) show a growth of only 4.8%. However, if growth in transnational students has continued at the 7.5% rate, then the IIE numbers would suggest that our share of the transnational market has continued to decline. 

So the good news would seem to be that we are getting more international students than we did a few years ago - and the bad news would seem to be that the increases are probably not keeping up with global growth in transnational students.

Comments

[David Comp]

I appreciate your post on the number of international students in the United States. It’s always nice to see someone dig deeper into the IIE Open Doors data and, more importantly, into the OECD Education at a Glance data for further analysis and comparison. So often colleagues take only a superficial look at the data to learn the total number of international students studying in the United States, how their current and former institutions rank nationally and among their peer institutions and, in some cases, how their undergraduate alma mater fared in the survey. I agree with your interpretation of the data that the United States saw an increase in international students studying here but that there was a decrease in the overall market share.

Lloyd comments: Thanks for your comment, David. The data can be somewhat misleading if not read closely.

[Andrew]

Interesting, although I strongly suspect that OPT growth numbers are simply a reflection of more assiduous efforts on the part of IIE and participating institutions to collect data on students availing themselves of this benefit. With the implementation of SEVIS in 2003 it's become easier, and actually from a regulatory standpoint necessary, to track which students are staying on to pursue post-completion training opportunities - in the pre-SEVIS environment tracking was difficult, and unnecessary. I can't really see counting OPT as a 'growth' category since this is a benefit of student status: one has to be counted as a student first in order to qualify for the benefit. Both a tighter regulatory framework introduced in 2007 and worsening economic conditions are likely to see numbers of students using OPT drop in the coming year or two.

Lloyd comments: Thanks Andrew for your comment. I agree that the numbers for OPT probably reflect counting changes. I also agree that counting OPT at all distorts the "international students in the US" statistics. Dropping that presents a much different picture of our desirability.