More Indians opting for higher education in US

After a brief period of lull recently, the number of Indian students opting for higher education in the US has gone up by 6% in 2013-2014, while US students coming to India has dropped by 4.7% in the same period.

After a brief period of lull recently, the number of Indian students opting for higher education in the US has gone up by 6% in 2013-2014, while US students coming to India has dropped by 4.7% in the same period.

India continues to be in the second country after China in sending students for higher studies to the US.

A majority of Indian students — 59.5% — have signed up for graduate schools while 27% will take up optional practical training and another 12.3% joined undergraduate courses and 1.2% students joined other programmes.

For the past three years, there has been a drop in number of Indian students going to the US, which has been reversed this year.

According to the 2014 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the US increased by 8% to a record high of 8,86,052 students in the 2013-14 academic year.

However only 4,377 American students are studying in India — 4.7% fewer than the previous year.

Efforts are underway to ensure that more US students come to India.