Although overall enrollment in graduate programs at American universities increased last year, international student numbers continued their downward trend, according to a report released last month by the Council of Graduate Schools.
The report showed a 2-percent increase in the overall enrollment at graduate schools nationwide, but a 3-percent drop in international students for 2004. Engineering and physical science fields were most affected by the decline because international students make up 50 percent and 41 percent of enrollees in those fields, respectively.
“On the national level, the number of international students, especially graduate students, is significantly decreasing,” said Michael Hindi, director of UCSD’s international student office and associate director of the International Center. “In most other areas, the international enrollment is actually slightly up. However, the slightly increased enrollment in most other areas of study was not enough to counterbalance the large decrease in these two fields.”
Three primary factors were attributed to the decline: changed visa policy after Sept. 11, questions regarding U.S. hospitality toward international students and growing competition among graduate schools, according to Heath Brown, director of research and policy analysis at the Council of Graduate Schools.
“What we see now is many more countries that are able to retain their grad students in their countries,” Brown said.
The shrinking international presence at U.S. graduate schools has slowed the growth of international students at UCSD as well. Although the international graduate student count increased by 172 from 2001 to 2004, the growth has slowed by 12 percent, according to the UCSD International Center’s annual reports.
“In absolute numbers, our international graduate student count continues to increase,” Hindi said. “However, the rate of growth is slowing significantly, and that might be of concern if the growth is slower than it is for all graduate students.”
Difficulty obtaining visas and increases in nonresident tuition are two reasons for the decreasing rate of international applicants at UCSD, according to Dean of Graduate Studies Richard Attiyeh, who is also chair of the campus’ International Strategy Committee.
However, UCSD is bucking the national trend of smaller international student numbers, according to Attiyeh.
“We increased the number of new international graduate students by 10 percent this year,” Attiyeh stated in an e-mail. “And 18 percent of our new students are from abroad, which is a healthy number.”
International students also made up 41 percent of total graduate applicants for fall 2005, according to the International Center.
“UCSD is doing a lot to build our international reputation,” Hindi said. “Many of our schools and divisions are continuing to build ties with sister international universities. And it doesn’t hurt that the Foreign Policy journal ranked UCSD ninth best in the country for studying international relations.”
In order to increase international presence, graduate schools nationwide are making the application process more efficient through the use of technology and dedicating more resources to recruit students abroad, according to Brown.
“There is a lot of activity going on within grad schools,” Brown said. “In certain cases, they’re using things like call centers for students to inquire about their admissions process.”
Higher education groups across the country are also trying to get the Department of Homeland Security to simplify the visa process.
