Is the U.S. losing its lure?

Updated on: Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Less than a month of the U.S. Mission to India's announcement that the number of applications for student visas from Indians went up by 18 per cent between October 2010 and September 2011 compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, a report brought out by Institute of International Education, U.S., revealed that the number of Indian students in the U.S. actually came down from 104,897 in 2009-10 to 103,895 in 2010-11.

According to the Open Doors report, which is published annually by the Institute of International Education in partnership with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the decline in the number of Indian students in U.S. educational institutes, albeit by a mere one per cent, is in contrast to the five per cent increase in the total number of international students in colleges and universities in the U.S. during the academic year.

The number of international students in the U.S. was put at 723,277 during academic year 2010-11. It is the first time since 1998-99 that students from India declined in numbers in U.S. colleges and universities. Yet, students from India still make the second largest international cohort there at 14 per cent, next only to 157,558 from China, which accounted for nearly 22 per cent. South Korea took the third position with more than 73,000 students, making up 10 per cent of the total, reveals the report.

Visa applications

Curiously, the U.S. Mission to India, in October 2011, claimed that the student visa applications increased by 18 per cent between October 2010 and September 2011, which is the U.S. Government's fiscal year. In numbers, the figure is 46,982, up from 39,958 registered during the corresponding period the previous year.

The Open Doors report, however, makes no mention of the number of fresh admissions by Indian students for the academic year 2010-11. If the total number of Indian students in the U.S. has decreased by one per cent, the decline in the fresh admissions is likely to be much higher.

U.S. Consulate General's Information Officer Anand Krishna, who was in Bangalore recently, told The Hindu that the rise in the number of applications for student visa indicates that there is no dip in the desire among Indian students for education in the U.S.

Consultants too dismissed any dip in numbers, or in the interest to study in the U.S. As Girish Ballola, CEO, Gen Next Education, an international knowledge centre that promotes U.S. universities in India said, the American dream for education is still riding high. Disagreeing with the possibility of there having been a decline, he said that the numbers had levelled off to become a steady growth.

“Yes, the U.S. economy is not what it used to be and the job market is tighter. But unemployment for those holding bachelor's or master's degrees in the U.S. is still as low as three to four per cent,” he pointed out.

Interest persisits

Swetha Muthanna, Senior Education Officer at Yashna Trust, the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) satellite centre in Bangalore, also said that the dip, if at all there is one, is very small. “In fact, if you look at prominent indicators such as the number of centres offering the standard tests, they have actually gone up. We just concluded a five-city (New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai) education fair, and the number of attendees was higher this year. The interest in graduate courses in the U.S. for students in Bangalore has held up,” she said.

Ms. Muthanna said that research spending in the U.S. is probably the highest in the world. “Also, there is flexibility in the courses. For instance, in India, if you have chosen a particular stream after the tenth standard, you will have to continue with the same. In the U.S., you can start afresh.”

Scholarships

Another significant contributor to the popularity of the U.S. is generous scholarships given to Indian students.

American universities are investing millions in order to give an opportunity to meritorious, but disadvantaged students to study in the U.S., which they otherwise may not be able to.

Emerging destinations

Speaking about the destinations trying to compete with the U.S., Mr. Ballola said that the U.K. and Australia had fallen from favour.

“After the racist attacks in Australia, there was a massive 70 per cent dip in the number of students opting to study there. As for the U.K., which used to be a close competitor to the U.S., the visa restrictions have proven to be a negative factor.”

Throwing light on the emerging favourites, he said there is rising demand for Singapore as a destination for higher studies. Proximity to India and cost-effectiveness may be the reasons, he felt. Canada too is being preferred, he added.

Is the U.S. losing its lure?

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