2014 Study Abroad Data

[DFW HOYA]

Some interesting facts on international study, where one in three international students are in only three states and less than 2% of all college students study abroad.

Georgetown is ranked 11th in study abroad participation.

www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/us-adds-foreign-students-but-few-americans-study-abroad/article_40f787f7-5ebd-5590-8c3a-5d3db76675d2.html

[TC]

Are we talking about "studying abroad" one of the years of a student's college, or the destination of a student for graduate studies? I think they're different things. The article you posted seemed focused on the latter.

[Nevada Hoya]

Speaking about studying abroad, Georgetown's presence in Qatar is examined in this WaPo article: www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-qatars-education-city-us-colleges-are-building-an-academic-oasis/2015/12/06/6b538702-8e01-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_doha-1045pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[SirSaxa]

almost 1 million students came to the U.S. in the 2014-15 school year, about a third came from China, the most from any country. But much of last year's growth is credited to a surge in the number of students who came from India, drawn by strong research programs, experts say.

In all, the number of Indian students in the U.S. grew by 30 percent to more than 130,000, the biggest jump since the nonprofit started collecting data in 1954.

"That increase has been primarily at the graduate level, and we know that Indian students have always been very attracted to the availability of excellent science and research facilities on U.S. campuses," said Rajika Bhandari, the nonprofit's deputy vice president for research and evaluation.

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The U.S. remains the top destination for international students, but relatively few Americans study abroad. About 300,000 U.S. students left the country to study in the 2013-14 school year, the most recent year for which figures for Americans are available, a number that has risen steadily but still accounts for less than 2 percent of all U.S. undergraduate students.

Top destinations for U.S. students are the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. European countries drew half of all U.S. students who studied abroad.

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Two conclusions I drew from reading that article.

1. Foreign students are far more interested in the educational opportunities available in the USA, and likely in our culture as well, than US students are interested in learning about the rest of the world.

2. Due to our inability to make any kind of progress on immigration issues, the vast majority of those highly qualified, dynamic, energetic and imaginative students who are getting degrees from our top universities are kicked out of the country shortly after graduation. What a waste. And what a counter-productive strategy for the American economy. That is a shortcoming that can be traced directly to the Republican party.