The number of foreign students coming to the United States this fall may increase over last year, according to a dozen colleges contacted by The Chronicle and visa information from India and China, the two countries that send the most students to American shores.
Growth appears to be likeliest in undergraduate programs, with the forecast for graduate programs more mixed.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that for 2008 it was expecting a 30-percent increase over last year in visas issued to students and exchange visitors. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi said that student visas were up 4.5 percent for the months from October to June, compared with the same period last year. Together the countries account for 25 percent of the foreign students in the United States.
An increase in international enrollments would support evidence that the declines suffered by institutions in recent years have begun to reverse. The number of international students enrolled at American colleges and universities rose by 3.2 percent in 2006, which was the first significant increase since 2001.
Admissions officers cited several possible explanations for enrollment gains, including continued improvements in the visa process and an increased perception that the United States welcomes foreign students.
Some administrators also said they heard rumors that the declining value of the dollar was attracting more students from overseas, but others dismissed the idea.
“The dollar has weakened, but not as much against Asian and Latin American currencies as it has against the euro, and Europeans have free education, so it’s still expensive to go to the U.S.,” said John F. Eriksen, associate director of international admission at Bryant University.
Overwhelmingly, colleges and universities cited their own efforts as the reason for increases in enrollment.
At Indiana University at Bloomington, which expects a 5-percent gain in undergraduate enrollment and a smaller increase in graduate enrollment, officials have been trying to raise foreign numbers.
“For quite some time, we didn’t do anything,” said Stephen A. Johnson, senior associate director of international admissions. “In the last 18 months, we’ve created a position devoted to international recruitment, and we have gone to 20 different countries and visited 16,000 students.”
http://chronicle.com Section: International Volume 54, Issue 47, Page A18