A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased 3% last year. This was the first notable increase since 2001. And it included a 10% jump in new international students.
The "Open Doors" report is from the Institute of International Education in New York, with support from the State Department.
American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell.
The September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks led to more restrictive visa requirements. Now, stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.
For the sixth year, India sent the most international students last fall, almost 84,000. That was up 10% from the year before. China remained in second place, and South Korea was third.
Japan was fourth among the 20 leading senders of foreign students. But the number of Japanese fell sharply -- nine percent.
There were 3% drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top 20 last year. But there were notable increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, to nearly 80,000.
For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students -- more than 7,000. Columbia University in New York was second.
Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University.
Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University.
The leading area of study was business and management. That was the choice for eighteen 18% of foreign students last year. Second was engineering.
The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006school year. It was a record number, and an increase of 8.5% from the year before. But only 5.5% of them stayed for a full year.
