The enrollment of first-time foreign students in graduate science and engineering programs increased significantly in 2006, according to the results of a National Science Foundation survey released this week. The number of students in all years of those programs grew over all by 1.7 percent in 2006.
Enrollment of first-time foreign students in graduate programs in science and engineering increased by 16 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to the NSF’s “Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.” At the same time, overall first-time graduate enrollment in those programs increased by 6 percent.
The findings are in line with those published by the Institute of International Education last year, in its annual “Open Doors” report. The institute found that the number of international students—undergraduate as well as graduate—enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States increased by 3.2 percent in the 2006-7 academic year.
“The NSF numbers parallel ours, and it shows that we’ve mostly rebounded from the dips after 9/11,” says Peggy Blumenthal, the institute’s executive vice president. “Back then, the word was out that visas were hard to get, and people were being turned away. But I think there is more opportunity now, and universities have worked very hard to get that word out.”
According to the NSF report, engineering showed robust growth in first-time foreign enrollment, shooting up by 23 percent. Such enrollment in mathematical sciences increased by 11 percent, and in social sciences by 12 percent.
While overall graduate enrollment in computer sciences declined slightly, by 0.7 percent, the discipline saw some of the largest first-time enrollment increases in foreign students. That enrollment jumped by 21 percent, while the number of U.S. citizens enrolling in the field for the first time declined by nearly 7 percent.
In addition to drawing more foreign students, science and engineering graduate schools saw higher numbers of American minorities and women enrolling. The number of female students increased by 2.3 percent in 2006. The number of black students increased by 1.6 percent, and the number of Hispanic students by just over 3 percent. In contrast, enrollment of men and of white, non-Hispanic students of both genders each went up by about 1 percent.
Josh Fischman contributed to this article.