Increased foreign student enrolments at US business schools

United States, 26th December: The number of foreign students enrolling in the US MBA programs has gone up significantly recently.

This has been revealed by the findings of a recent report by Council of Graduate Schools.

US Business Schools highly attractive to foreigners—International student enrollment at US business schools has registered an increase of six percent in the current year after facing an almost nil growth in the previous year. This was stated by the director of research and policy analysis of the US Council of Graduate Schools, Nathan Bell.

Bell affirmed that the growth in the number of international students taking admissions in US business schools has been the highest since the year 2007.

And this makes the US a preferred destination for international students wanting to pursue MBA, said director of admissions and financial aid at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, Christina Sneva. It is a positive development for the US in terms of attracting higher number of international students since the onset of global economic slowdown nearly two years ago, the report adds.

Business, engineering, computer science popular subjects among international students—The number of international students choosing business as their subject went up by as much as 9 percent, figures for the year 2010 and 2011 affirm. Nearly 63 percent of international graduate students opted for subjects including physical sciences, engineering or earth sciences, mathematics or computer science apart from business, the report states.

A noticeable growth has been witnessed at nearly 20 of US top MBA (Master of Business Administration) programs since economic crisis engulfed the US, the report said. The percentage of foreigners studying in the US is said to be 33.4 percent and this is up by nearly 3 percent during the economic slowdown, the report citing figures clarifies.

Higher approval rate for US FI visas—a leading factor in increased foreign students in the US-- Some of the common obstacles faced by majority of foreigners wanting to study US business degrees included difficulties in getting US student visas.

And a point worth noticeable here is that the approval rate for US F-1 visas has gone up in the recent times leading to an increase in the number of foreign student enrollment at US business schools, the report stated. The number of US F-1 visas granted in FY (fiscal year) 2010 was 385,210 showing an increase of 54,000 over the FY 2009.