Washington:
According to an official report, the number of Indian students in the United States has increased by more than 12 percent in 2021, while those from China, which represents the largest number, has fallen by more than eight percent.
In its annual report released Wednesday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect international student enrollment in the United States in 2021.
The total number of SEVIS records for active F-1 and M-1 students was 1,236,748 in calendar year 2021, a 1.2 percent decrease from calendar year 2020.
SEVIS stands for Students and Exchange Visitor Information System. F-1 and M-1 are the two non-immigrant student visas. J-1 is also a non-immigrant student visa, but is usually given to academic exchange programs.
In 2021, 8,038 SEVP-certified schools were eligible to enroll international students, a decrease of 280 schools from 8,369 eligible schools in 2020.
“The number of students from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin. However, China sent fewer students in 2021 than in 2020 (-33,569), while India sent more students (+25,391),” the report said.
No less than 37 percent of Indian students are women.
Overall, China remains at the top of the list of countries sending 348,992 students to the US. India follows China with 232,851 students. China and India are followed by South Korea (58,787), Canada (37,453), Brazil (33,552), Vietnam (29,597), Saudi Arabia (28,600), Taiwan (25,406), Japan (20,144) and Mexico (19,680).
According to the report, only Asia and Australia/Pacific Islands saw an overall decline in the number of students coming to the United States last year, while all other continents saw an increase.
International F-1 and M-1 students came from every continent in the world except Antarctica and from more than 224 countries and territories.
Students from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin, accounting for 71.9 percent of the international student population. China sent fewer international students, while India sent more, the report said.
In 2021, California received 208,257 international students, the largest percentage of international students (16.8 percent) of any US state.
There were 240,479 active trade show attendees in the United States in 2021, compared to 256,944 active trade show attendees in 2020.
Most F-1 and M-1 students come to the US to participate in higher education. By 2021, approximately 92 percent of all F-1 and M-1 students were enrolled in SEVP-certified associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral programs.
Specifically, international students in the US took 1,142,352 higher education degrees, which is an increase from calendar year 2020 (1,121,981).
It is important to note that a student can participate in more than one level of education in a given calendar year, and thus can be counted in multiple levels of education.
USCIS said 47 percent (581,843) of all active SEVIS records came from China (348,992) or India (232,851) in calendar year 2021, the same percentage as calendar year 2020.
While the total number of active F-1 and M-1 student records originating from Asia fell by 34,781 from calendar year 2020 to calendar year 2021, student record trends varied across countries, it said.
“The number of international student records from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin. However, China sent fewer students in 2021 than in 2020 (-33,569), while India sent more students (+25,391),” the report said. †
“Yet 71.9 percent of all international students in the United States call Asia home. Other Asian countries sent fewer students, including South Korea (-9,430), Saudi Arabia (-9,439) and Japan (-6,155).” the report said.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)