Increased number of Chinese applying for US student visas

United States, 18th November: There has been a significant increase in the number of Chinese students seeking US student visas for pursuing higher education at US universities.

As per the latest official figures, the number of Chinese students has gone up by 30 percent over the period of last year. This has resulted in making China a top source for sending students to the US.

In October 2010, there were around 128,000 Chinese students on US student visas in the nation which is significantly above 98,000 Chinese students in the US pursuing studies in US universities in the year 2009.

These latest statistics are from the findings of a recent report titled’2010 Open Doors Report’ published on the American Embassy in a Chinese website.

As per the US IIE(Institute of International Education), America currently has the highest percentage(18.5 percent) of Chinese students studying in various universities.

The Open Doors Report carried out every year by the IIE maintains that in the year 2009/10, China surpassed India as the biggest source of students to America. Before this, India had enjoyed being the top source of foreign students to the US.

The data tracked by the Open Doors Report is related to universities and colleges in the US and does not include the number of foreign students in US high schools.

Although, the number of Chinese students has gone up significantly in the US, on the other hand, the number of students coming to the US from Canada, Japan and South Korea has significantly gone down for the same year.

Apart from China, Taiwan happens to be among the 5 regions sending highest number of students to America. The five regions namely China, India, Nepal, South Korea and Saudi Arabia together send around half of the foreign students coming to the US to study in US universities.

Saudi Arabia has also witnessed an increase of 25 percent in the number of students coming to the US for studying here. And this increase can be largely contributed to the efforts of the Saudi Arabia government for making investments in foreign study scholarships, the report maintains.