For third year, fewer Indians went to US colleges

The continued economic stress witnessed by India, rising interest rates and the slump in the value of the Indian rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar seem to be taking a toll on the number of Indian students going to the US for higher studies in the past three years.

India retains its second spot among the international students studying in the US, after China. In contrast, there is a growing interest among US students to come to India for academic purpose as shown by the data collected by the Institute of International Education of the US, though their number is very small.

In 'Open Doors 2013 Report' issued in the US on November 11, IIE offers an insight into the student flow into the US from across the globe in pursuit of higher education.

IIE said in its report that there was a 7 per cent increase in the number of international students at colleges and universities during 2012-13 touching a record high of 8,19,644 students.

Global influx of students to US

During 2012-13 academic year, 96,754 students from India were studying in the US, a 3.5 per cent drop from the previous year. The highest percentage of Indian students, 56.4 per cent, were graduate students while 13.2 per cent were under-graduates.

A further 28.8 per cent of the Indian students were pursuing Optional Practical Training (OPT), the rest (1.6 per cent) were categorised as ‘other’.

Data revealed that during the period, 55,000 more international students enrolled compared to the previous year with increase in number of students coming from China and Saudi Arabia. They account for just under 4 per cent of the student enrolment at the graduate and undergraduate level together and they pump in a whopping $24 billion into the country’s economy.

Fall in number of Indian students

While in the 2010-11 academic year, the number of Indian students in US saw a minor 1 per cent drop to 1,03,895, the decline increased to 3.5 per cent compared to the previous year when 1,00,270 Indian students were pursuing higher studies in 2011-12. The number fell to 96,754 students in 2012-13, a further 3.5 per cent decline from the previous year.

It is not as if there was no fall in the Indian students’ enrolment in the US in the recent past. According to the data provided by IIE from 1996-97 to 2012-13, the number of Indian students in the US declined in two previous years before current trend began in 2010-11.

While in 1996-97 the Indian students' enrolment declined by 3.5 per cent to 30,641 students, in 2005-06, the fall was higher at 4.9 per cent when 76,503 Indian students were in the US.

But it is only now the fall has been consistent and increasing year on year. During the two previous declines, the enrolment bounced back vigorously in the subsequent years. But since 2010-11, the decline in Indian student enrolment has increased in a sustained manner.

The report said that India had occupied the top place in sending students to the US for studies from 2001-02 to 2008-09.After a mixed performance, in 2009-10, the increase was a mere 1.6 per cent and the top spot for sending international students to the US was grabbed by China which it has retained since then. Students from India constitute nearly 11.8 per cent of the foreign students in the US.

Reason for the decline

The decline in Indian students going to the US for higher education appears to have started when the economic stress was beginning in India and gained momentum subsequently. With the economic slowdown hurting job opportunities and with the strong inflation keeping the interest rates high, students wanting to go to the US for education seem to be weighing other options.

The depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar and the churn in the US economy has limited job opportunities. These reasons have made the Indian students to weigh the benefits of high cost US education.

American students in India

The report said the number of American students going to India for studies was increasing, though the number was small. While 3,884 US students went to India in 2009-10, their number increased to 4,593 in 2011-12 (for which data was available). But this is a very small percentage of the 2,83,332 Americans who studied abroad for academic credit in 2011-12 with the UK being the most favourite destination for them followed by Italy, Spain, France and China.

Indian-Chinese student ratio

It is also interesting to note that the gap between the enrolment of Indian and Chinese students is widening. While China, India and Korea together constitute the largest chunk of foreign student enrolment in the US at 49 per cent, the gap between China and India is increasing.

While the number of Indian students at about 97,000, the enrolment of Chinese students increased by a whopping 21 per cent to nearly 2,35,000 students. In fact among the top three countries, only Chinese have shown growth with both India and South Korea witnessing decline in their student population in the US.

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