September 11 Changed Everything

There's a very interesting article in Education Sector, an education think tank about what happened to the number of international students allowed into the United States after the events of September 11 2001. Guess what ? Less foreign students came to the U.S., and we still have not caught up to the pre-9/11 level.

Heightened scrutiny of visa applicants, travel restrictions here and abroad, and fears about security in the U.S. combined with other factors to create a sharp 20 percent decline of F-1 visas from 2000–01 to 2001–02. Despite a 15 percent surge this past year, the U.S. issued only 273,870 visas in 2005–06, 20,000 less than 2000–01.

That's probably not very surprising, but the article does have a few surprises worth noting:

-Saudi Arabia is sending record number of students to the United States:

Saudi Arabia's jump in visa numbers is a direct consequence of government policy. After a 2005 agreement between President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to increase student exchange, the Kingdom offered 10,000 Saudi students full four-year scholarships. The overwhelming majority of these students chose to study in the U.S. and skyrocketed Saudi Arabia's student visa rates from 2,166 in 2004–05 to 9,240 in 2005–06.

-The major destination countries for foreign students are South Korea, China and India , each sending more than 14,000 students each. In fact, although 196 countries send students to America, just 5 nations account for half the incoming student totals.

South Korea, China, India, Japan and Taiwan—the top five sending countries—together account for just over half of all student visas issued in 2005–06.

-The UK is sending far fewer students to America than in 1998, as is Germany and Japan.

The article is just a couple of months old, and packed with a lot more very interesting data. Just click on the heading.