Business-related programmes are the mostpopular single field of study among international students in the US withChina, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia being the top four source countries,according to a new study.
However, among Indian and Saudi students business ranks third behindengineering and math, and engineering and English respectively, while it is thesingle-most popular field among Chinese and Korean students, according to WorldEducation Services (WES).
This growth in the popularity of business programmes has paralleled, to adegree, the overall demand for undergraduate programmes at US institutions, theWES study on "International Student Mobility Trends 2013: TowardsResponsive Recruitment Strategies" noted.
As a result, international undergraduate students in business studies grew byapproximately 60 percent in the US between 2003 and 2011, with nearly three outof ten international undergraduates enrolled in business fields-a proportionthat is now comparable to the UK and Canada.
The authors Rahul Choudaha, director of research and advisory services, andresearch associates Li Chang and Yoko Kono noted how student mobility patternsto the US have changed in the decade following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Due to visa policy changes and perceptions that the US had become a lesswelcoming host country for international students, enrolment growth stalled inthe immediate aftermath of the attacks.
At that time, Indians represented the largest international student population,rising almost 12 percent in 2002/03 compared to just two percent among Chinesestudents-bucking an overall downward trend in enrolments that would last untilthe 2006/07 academic year.
Within a decade, that story has been turned on its head. Overall enrolments areagain growing at a healthy level.
Chinese enrolments have been booming at an average annual growth rate of wellabove 20 percent since 2007/08, while Indian enrolments have stagnated andrecently started a downward trajectory.
A look into the level of study reveals that India is a graduate market, but acombination of socioeconomic and demographic factors suggest an inflow of moreIndian undergraduates in the coming years.
Three fourths of Indian students at the graduate level (77 percent) wereenrolled in S&E fields, significantly higher than the concentration forinternational students overall (59 percent), according to WES.
In addition to aggressive outreach in traditional Asian markets, particularlyChina and India, the WES study highlighted the need for diversification ofinternational student populations by place of origin.