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Journalism of Courage
For the first time since 2009, Indians have surpassed the Chinese as the largest cohort of international students in the US, according to the latest Open Doors 2024 report released Monday.
In 2023-24, there were 3.31 lakh Indian students in the US, making up 29.4% of its 11 lakh-strong international student population. It was 25.4% the previous academic year.
In comparison, the number of Chinese students in the US in 2023-24 stood at 2.77 lakh, the share dropping to 24.6% from 27.4% in the previous year.
This is the lowest number of Chinese students in the US since 2013-14, when the figure stood at 2.74 lakh. By contrast, the number of Indian students now is a little more than three times (see box).
| YEAR | TOTAL INDIAN STUDENTS | TOTAL CHINESE STUDENTS |
| 2009/10 | 104,897 | 127,628 |
| 2010/11 | 103,895 | 157,558 |
| 2011/12 | 100,270 | 194,029 |
| 2012/13 | 96,754 | 235,597 |
| 2013/14 | 102,673 | 274,439 |
| 2014/15 | 132,888 | 304,040 |
| 2015/16 | 165,918 | 328,547 |
| 2016/17 | 186,267 | 350,755 |
| 2017/18 | 196,271 | 363,341 |
| 2018/19 | 202,014 | 369,548 |
| 2019/20 | 193,124 | 372,532 |
| 2020/21 | 167,582 | 317,299 |
| 2021/22 | 199,182 | 290,086 |
| 2022/23 | 268,923 | 2,89,526 |
| 2023/24 | 3,31,602 | 2,77,398 |
(Source: Open Doors data on international students in US)
Together, however, the two countries continue to dominate America’s foreign student cohort. In fact, their combined share has risen to 54% from the previous year’s 52.8%. The other top countries are South Korea (43,149), Canada (28,998) and Taiwan (23,157).
According to the report, the number of Indian postgraduate students in the US — 1.96 lakh or 59% of the total — saw an 18% rise against the previous year. The increase in the number of Indian undergraduates was 13%.
The number of Chinese postgraduate students, on the other hand, saw a 2.58% dip and undergraduates 12.75% against 2022-23.
Mathematics or Computer Science is the most popular field among Indian students in the US, the report showed, with 42.9% pursuing these in 2023-24, a slight uptick from 41.2% in the previous year.
Engineering, which was more popular eight years ago, has seen a dip in recent years: in 2023-24, 24.5% of Indians in the US pursued engineering, down from 26.9% in 2022-23, and 29.6% in 2021-22.
The Open Doors Report, an annual survey examining international student exchange activity in the United States, is funded by the US Department of State and conducted by the non-profit Institute of International Education (IIE).
