Foreign Students In The US

Currently, there are 1.05 million F-1 academic & M-1 vocational  students studying in the United States. In addition, there are 245,000   J-1 exchange visitors in the United States.

What countries do foreign students come from?

Most of the foreign students come from Asia, including 300,000 from China and 500,000 from the rest of Asia.  Canada and Mexico are represented by 67,000 students, South America sent 50,000, Africa 46,000, and Australia 6,000.

Looking at the countries of origin of the Asian students in the US, the largest number come from China (300,000), then India (150,000), South Korea (78,000), Saudi Arabia (76,000), Japan (25,000), Vietnam (24,000) and Taiwan (22,000).

It’s interesting to see that Vietnam sends 24,000 students to the US, and also sends about 24,000 immigrants to the US each year.   It’s also interesting to see that Vietnam sends more foreign students to the US than Taiwan, and sends almost as many students as those from Japan.   And the small country of Vietnam sends about 50% of the number of students that are sent by the entire continents of Africa or South America.

Thirty six per cent of all foreign students study in California, New York and Texas.

Right now, there are about 5,200 foreign students in US primary and high schools.  This represents a 33% decrease in the number of all foreign students enrolled in primary and secondary school programs since February 2015.

Twenty Eight per cent of foreign students who are enrolled in programs for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies are from the United Kingdom and Canada.

Twenty five per cent of students from China are enrolled in programs for business, management, marketing and related support services.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are popular programs at American colleges and universities. Graduates from these programs are important to innovation and job creation in the United States.

Seventy five percent of all foreign STEM students study in programs for engineering, computer and information sciences and support services and biological and biomedical sciences

—————————————————————————————— 

Q.1. Why are foreign student graduates from STEM programs important to innovation and job creation in the United States?

A.1. The US always has a need for more graduates in the STEM fields.  That is why these graduates are given preference for H1B visas after they complete their studies.

——————————————————————————————-

Q.2.  Can foreign students study in public elementary and high schools in the US?

A.2.  Yes, but there is a limit of one year’s study in public schools and they must pay tuition to the school district.   There is no time limit for foreign students in US private schools.

——————————————————————————————-

Q.3.  More than 80% of the foreign students in the US are from Asia, but only 10% are from Europe and less than 1% come from Australia.  Why is this?

A.3.  For Asian students, there are many reasons, including the opportunity to improve their English language skills, superior educational facilities in the US, limited university places available in their home countries, and the prestige of graduating from an American university.  Students in Europe and Australia do not need to go abroad to get a good education.

—————————————————————————————