Growing intolerance in the United States and a tough visa policy has had an impact on the number of Indian students travelling to the US. Launching a survey of foreign students in that country, officials of the US embassy on Tuesday presented figures that clearly indicated that the number of Indians studying in the US declined over the last year.
Speaking at the formal launch of the Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange, Joseph Pomper, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs of the US Embassy, pointed out that the number of Indians studying in the US increased by 5.4% over the last year. However, this figure was substantially lower than the 12.3% growth of 2015-16.
“Looking at the past 10 years of data, the number of Indians going to the United States has doubled,” said Mr Pomper. Officials highlighted that the number of Indian students in the US was still growing but the decline was obvious in the lower rate of increase compared to the previous two years.
Though overall the trend is upwards, the dip in the increase shows that the appeal of the US among Indian students is declining due to multiple factors, including weakening rupee which imposes a heavy burden on US-bound students.
The Open Doors Report is published by the Institute of International Education which has been conducting annual survey of international students in the US for a century. It highlighted that India provided the second highest amount of graduate students. The country occupies the fourth position in providing undergraduates to the United States. Indian students currently make for 18% of the total international students in the US.
A press release from the US Embassy pointed out that there was also an increase of 12.5% in the number of American students studying in India. At present 4,704 American students are studying in India.
In 2017-18, the US hosted 1,094,792 students from all over the world. This reflected an increase of 1.5%. Education had featured in the recent ‘2 plus 2’ dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers of India and the United States.
The Open Doors Report found that 73% students from India were enrolled in mathematics or engineering. As many as 10% were enrolled in physical science and health professions.