Chinese students still drawn to US universities, but growth rate slowing
More than 350,000 Chinese enrolled at seats of learning in America in 2016-17, but safety fears are making some people think twice
China continued to provide the lion’s share of foreign students to US universities in the 2016-17 academic year, but their number grew at a slower rate than previously, a study has shown.
Education consultants suggested the slowdown might have been triggered by an increase in the number of options available to young people as well as growing safety concerns among their parents.
Of the more than 1 million foreign students who enrolled at universities in the United States in the period, 350,755, or about 35 per cent, were Chinese, the Open Doors study by the Institute of International Education, a non-profit organisation supported by the US government, said.
The total – which comprised 142,851 undergraduates, 128,320 postgraduates and almost 80,000 non-degree students – represented an increase of 6.8 per cent from 2015-16, but that was lower than the 8.1 per cent gain recorded 12 months earlier.
The number of Indian students saw the fastest rate of growth, expanding more than 12 per cent to over 185,000.
Gu Huini, founder of ZoomIn Academy, an education consultancy based in Shanghai, said the US was still a popular destination for many mainland students, but no longer the top choice for his clients.
