The other day someone signed up on my blog to be notified whenever I post something new. This wouldn’t have been remarkable except the visitor was from Russia.
Looking at one of my blog’s analytical tools I discovered that just about one out of every four visitors are from a foreign country.
So in honor of visitors from Singapore, Mexico, Russia, Jamaica and elsewhere I want to occasionally write posts that would interest them. So here goes…
The latest figures from the Institute of International Education show that attending school in the United States has never been more popular. In fact, the old records have been shattered. Find all the stats you could possibly want on this phenomenon here.
The number of international students at American colleges and universities jumped by 7% for the 2007-08 school years to a record high of 623,805 students.
The Chronicle of Higher Education had this take on the soaring popularity of an American degree:
Educators and government officials say the bounce indicates that hostile student-visa policies, weak recruiting efforts by colleges, and insufficient government support are things of the past. A weak dollar, the growing number of internationally mobile students, the lack of higher-education capacity in key source countries like China, and a rising middle class in those same countries have also helped fuel the growth.
U.S. colleges and universities are stepping up their effort to attract foreign students by establishing partnerships with institutions abroad, attending overseas recruiting fairs, responding quickly to foreign inquiries and applications, and working with country-based agents.
Here are the countries sending the most students to America:
1. India……………….94,563 students
2. China………………81,127 students
3. South Korea…….69,124 students
4. Japan……………….33,974 students
5. Canada…………….29,051 students
6. Taiwan…………….29,001 students
7. Mexico…………….14,837 students
8. Turkey…………….12,030 students
9. Saudi Arabia……..9,873 students
10. Thailand………….9,004 students
11. Nepal………………8,936 students
12. Germany…………8,907 students
13. Vietnam………….8,769 students
14. Britain…………….8,367 students
15. Hong Kong………8,286 students
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution.