Kathmandu: The year 2010/11 has seen a decrease in the number of Nepali students vying for studies in the United States.

An annual census of the international students’ enrollment in the US shows that Nepali students’ enrollment in US academic institutions dropped to 10,301 in 2010/11 from 11,233 in 2009/10.

Uttam Prasad Pant, principal of the Dillibazaar-based Universal Language and Computer Institute, attributed the decline to the US Embassy’s strict screening of students’ documents.

He further said, “The number of students has decreased because only genuine students are going to the United States after the host country adopted a new policy for international students.”

Released on November 14, the census report on international students — ‘opendoors 2011’ — states that the total international student enrollment in the United States increased five per cent in 2010/11.

It said the international students’ increment in the US stood at the record high of 723,277.

According to the report, graduate international students in the United States have outnumbered undergraduate international students since 2001/02.

The international students contributed over $21.2 billion to the US economy in 2010, the report says.According to the report, 63 per cent of these students (81 per cent at the undergraduate level) rely primarily on personal and family funds to pay for their studies.

According to the report, China was the top place of origin again in 2010/11 with students numbering 157,558, followed by India (103,895), South Korea (73,351), Canada (27,546) and Taiwan (24,818).

The report says the students from the top five places comprised 54 per cent of all international students. It has ranked the Los Angeles-based University of Southern California as number one US educational institution with 8,615 international students.

Business and Management, Engineering, Math and Computer Science, Physical and Life Sciences and Social Sciences are the top five fields of study of international students in the US.

According to the census report, 270,604 American students studied abroad for academic credit in 2009/10, an increase of 3.9 per cent over the previous year.

The report identifies the UK, Italy, Spain, France and China as the top five leading destinations of US students.India, which ranked 14th among top 25 education destinations, drew 3,884 United States students in 2009/10, while the UK drew 32,683 American students during the same period.

source: The Himalayan Times,19 Nov 2011