Indian students spent as much as USD 6.54 billion in the US in 2016-17, up 30% from the previous year, while increase in fresh enrollments of Indian students in the US almost halved in the same period.
Indian students spent as much as USD 6.54 billion in the US in 2016-17, which is 30 percent more than the previous year, while increase in fresh enrollments of Indian students in the US almost halved in the same period, according to the latest Open Doors study conducted by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
According to a story in the Financial Express, this amount spent by students falls short of the USD 2.37 billion FDI coming from North America into India.
The allure of the Unites States as a place for higher education has not slumped much among developing countries such as India. But nonetheless, the percentage of increase in new Indian students in US in 2016-2017 was only 12.3 percent, down from the 25 percent of previous year. Presently, the Indian student population in the country is 1.86 lakh.
In any case, international students contributed USD 39 billion to the US economy through their expenditure on tuition, boarding and living expenses, according to the US Department of Commerce.
According to the study, the factors causing the growth to slow down include various global and local economic conditions including factors like expansion of higher education opportunities at home and declining populations, said the press release by IIE.
“number of new international students—those enrolled at a U.S. institution for the first time in fall 2016, declined by nearly 10,000 students to about 291,000, a three percent decrease from the previous year,” the study said.
However, US saw an overall increase of 3.4 percent in international students studying in the country this year taking the number to 10.7 lakh students for 2016-17. This implies an increase of 35,000 students than the previous year on non-immigrant student visas.
Students from India and China together represent about half of the total enrollments.
India is the second top country in sending students to US, falling right behind China. “China remains the top sending country, with almost twice the number of students in the U.S. as India, but India’s rate of growth outpaced China’s,” the study said.
India’s growth in outgoing students to the US was 12.3 percent in 2016-17, largest for the third year in a row. Indian students comprise 17.3 percent of all international students in the US.
Similar to Indians, the Chinese students also pay high amount of money to the American education system with the latest expenditure being USD 12.55 billion.
