Kolkata, Oct 29 (PTI) China has the highest number ofstudents going to the United States for higher studies everyyear while India is at the second place with almost half thecount, an USIEF senior official said here today.
"As per the statistics, India is number 2 behindChina. Going by the last academic year's figure, there arearound 1,66,000 Indian students studying in the US while Chinahas 3,20,000 students approximately," US Consulate General,Public Affairs Officers and Director of the American Centre,Jamie Dragon said today.
"China surpassed India about six years ago and the gap(between the number of Indian and Chinese students going tothe US) is increasing," Dragon added.
Asked about the number of students from Kolkata goingto the US every year, the US official said that the citylagged way behind other metros with New Delhi and Mumbaitaking the lead.
"I do not have the actual statistics on Kolkatastudents. But just looking at the size of the visa offices inthe country, Kolkata has one of the smaller offices. My senseis that the domain in Kolkata is not that high compared toother metros.
He, however, said that the figure on the number ofstudents going to the US during this academic session isexpected to be released soon.
On whether there was a slump in the number ofinternational students going to the US for higher studiesafter Donald Trump took over as the US President, Dragon saidthat the annual statistics is yet to come out.
Twenty-one universities from the US interacted withover 100 local students and their guardians today at theUSIEF-EducationUSA University Fair 2017, hosted by theUS-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) here.
The fair, inaugurated by Dragon, provided students theopportunity to learn about the most current and authenticinformation about the accredited American Universities.
An annual event, the fair was held in New Delhi beforeKolkata. It will next go to Hyderbad followed by one-daysessions in Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. PTI SCHJM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.