Chinese students make up highest proportion of overseas nationals studying in US
- Source: Global Times
- [13:54 November 16 2010]
- Comments
By Pang Qi
China sent nearly 130-thousand students to the United States in the 2009/10 academic year, making up 18.5 percent – the highest percentage – of international students in the US, the US Institute of International Education (IIE) said in Beijing on Monday.
According to the Open Doors Report conducted annually by the IIE, in 2009/10 China outnumbers India, which had sent the most students to the US for 8 years.
The Open Doors Report only tracked data in colleges and universities, and not in any US high schools.
The number of Chinese students heading to the US has increased by 30 percent compared with last year, the highest rate of growth.
During the same period, the number of students from South Korea, Canada and Japan has decreased.
Taiwan is now one of the 5 regions which send the most students to the US. These five send 50 percent of international students heading to American institutes of higher education.
Ingrid Larson, director of the American Center for Educational Exchange at the US Embassy in Beijing, said that many Chinese students choose to continue their education in the US because of the teaching quality in the US, the possibility of a more flexibility in their studies, and affordable cost.
The report also states that while the majority of Chinese students study at the graduate level in the US, undergraduate students constitute an increasing percentage, making up one third of all students from China in 2009/10, which points to a trend of younger Chinese pursuing their studies overseas.
In the Open Doors’ track of US students who study abroad, China has remained in the top 5 of leading destinations in the past two years. It saw a 3.9 percent increase in its popularity among US students, the only increase among the top 5 destinations.
Larson said that although most US students go to the UK or European mainly due to the cultural similarity, a growing number of Americans opt for China – in order to study the Chinese language and experience a different culture.
Regarding student visas for the US, Teta Moehs, an official in charge of visa affairs, said that the restrictions would neither be tightened nor loosened next year, and she encouraged students to apply two months before their programs start.
An official at Education USA, which belongs to the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affaires, recommended that students should handle their own applications to US institutes of higher education – as well as their visa applications – instead of using an agency. “The university wants to see your unique personality, your ‘do it yourself’ things,” she said.
Regarding last month’s cancellation of the Graduate Record Examinations, or GRE, test results, Larson said that it “might affect some students, but each university has different submission time, not all students are affected”. She also told the Global Times that the US is anxious to enroll students from China because they are outstanding and talented.
An official at the US Embassy in Beijing suggested that students could explain their situation when they apply to US universities, which will “definitely understand” it.
The US-based Educational Testing Service, or ETS – the GRE's organizer – decided to cancel GRE scores in China because the tests repeated verbal and quantitative portions from a GRE test given in 2005.
ETS issued a notice on its website saying that all October test results had been cancelled in order to protect the validity of the GRE.
