Chinese are the number one international students in US.

Posted on December 2nd, 2010 by InternationalStudentGuru

On November 15, the Institute of International Education released its annual Open Doors Report on international students in the US, showing the total number of international students in the US at 690,923, an all-time high and 3% more than last year.  However the most dramatic figure was the 30% growth in the number of Chinese students in the US, to a total of almost 128,000, leapfrogging India to claim the top spot.  China has recently been second to India in the number of international students studying in the US, but no longer, as the number of Indian students grew modestly to about 105,000.

According to the report, the economy held back overall growth to a lower rate than in recent years, notwithstanding the growth in Chinese students as well as a surge in students from Saudi Arabia.  However, the number of students declined from about half of the top 25 sending countries.

Here’s the top 10 sending countries with number of students this year and percent growth from last year:

1    China               127,628      29.9%
2    India                104,897        1.6%
3    South Korea   72,153        -3.9%
4    Canada            28,145        -5.2%
5    Taiwan             26,685        -4.9%
6    Japan               24,842      -15.1%
7    Saudi Arabia  15,810        24.9%
8    Mexico             13,450         -9.4%
9    Vietnam           13,112          2.3%
10    Turkey           12,397          2.0%

The University of Southern California again hosted the most international students, with 7,987 international students on campus.  Next in line are the University of Illinois – Urbana – Champaign (7,287), New York University (7,276), Purdue University (6,903) and Columbia University (6,833).