1.96 Lakh Indian students in US, but yearly enrolments falling

CHENNAI: The number of Indian students studying in US universities may be 1.96 lakh, but the yearly growth rate in their enrolments has come down between 2016 and 2018, the Open Doors Report, an annual census of international students in the US, said.Between 2014 and 2015, the number of Indian students jumped from 1,02, 673 to 1,32,888 (29.4%). In 2016, it shot up to 1,65,918 – a 24.85% increase. However, since 2017, the year Donald Trump became the US president, the growth rate fell to 12.26%. Between 2017 and 2018, the change in Indian students studying in the US was 5.4%, or 10,004 students more. This year, the number of graduate students has dropped by 8.8% too.US consul general in Chennai Robert Burgess said several factors were responsible for the slow growth rate.“It’s hard to come out with one reason for that. It depends on the number of seats available and the interest (of the student), any number of factors will affect an individual student’s. It can be opportunities in other places, including here in India,” said Burgess. “Economics and exchange rates can affect it. We are in competition with a lot of universities and institutions around the world to attract the best students.”According to reports, among other factors, no guarantee of employment after a course, especially for non-STEM students, has hit student enrolment. But Burgess said, “The main attraction of education is its quality. It’s about developing that individual… that should be the primary goal of a student, of getting exposed to the quality of education. As far as employment is concerned, the number of H1 visas available is always subscribed. There has been no change.”The number of new international student enrolments in the US too has fallen from 3.07 lakh in 2015-16 to 2.71 lakh in 2017-18, the report, published by Institute of International Education and funded by the US department of state, said. “New international student enrollment – students enrolling for the first time at a US institution in fall 2017 – decreased by 6.6% over the previous year,” it noted. Number of students from Saudi Arabia and Mexico dipped by 15.5% and 8.1%. And despite marginal increase, Chinese and Indian students constituted more than 50% of the international students on US campuses at 33.2% and 17.9% respectively.