Sea Change in Grad Student Rolls

The latest figures on international graduate students coming to study in the United States are in, and they're disconcerting. Since 11 September 2001, many schools had reported declines in non-U.S. grad student enrollments. Non-U.S. students seeking to enter the United States complained of lengthy delays in the processing of their visas, mainly because of more rigorous screening rules imposed by the U.S. State Department. Last year, 35 percent of student visa applications were rejected, compared with 20 percent in 1999.

What the latest numbers make clear is that the enrollment declines are now widespread and dramatic enough to seriously threaten the U.S. academic research enterprise, which has come to depend heavily on non-U.S. students and scholars. In 2002, there were 58 262 students from abroad enrolled in U.S. graduate engineering programs and 61 346 U.S. students.

The Council of Graduate Schools, which documented the latest decline in international student admissions in a report released in September, attributed the decline to global competition in graduate education, changing U.S. visa rules, and "diminished perceptions of the United States as the destination of choice for advanced graduate study."

"There is no reason to believe that these factors will diminish in the short run," the report concluded.

28% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from abroad to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004

36% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from abroad to U.S. graduate engineering programs between 2003 and 2004

45% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from China to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004

28% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from India to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004

88% PROPORTION OF U.S. INSTITUTIONS reporting a decline in international applications between 2003 and 2004

67% AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS the U.S. State Department has been taking to conduct security checks for non-U.S.science and engineering students seeking to study "sensitive technologies" in the United States

Sources: Council of Graduate Schools, "Findings from U.S. Graduate Schools on International Graduate Student Admissions Trends," Summer 2004; U.S. Government Accountability Office. (Later this fall, the graduate school council will report on how many students actually enrolled.)