Current Trends

The UCEA staff periodically highlights a news story of particular interest to our association membership that could point to an important trend. These appear in the right side column of our home page when we first publish these items, and then are compiled in this Trends section for future reference. Links to online reports and articles are provided as a courtesy to our visitors. These links may change as organizations reorganize their website or archive items. For more summaries of news of interest to members please visit our In The News section.

Graduate Student Enrollment in Science and Engineering

U.S. enrollment of international graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) fields increased in 2006, according to a report by the National Science Foundation). This increase followed two years of decline in international graduate student enrollment in U.S. institutions.

Enrollment of first-time, full-time enrollment of international students increased 16% over the 2005 level.

First-time, full-time enrollment of S&E graduate students with U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status rose by slightly more than 1%.

Total enrollment of first-time, full-time S&E graduate students rose 6% over the 2005 level.

Did you know?

A new report by the International Students Insight Group indicates that the UK may be beginning to challenge the US as the most popular study destination, despite being seen as the most expensive place in the world to study. While the United States remains the most popular destination for international students, it also faces increasing competition from newer host countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and China, which are building their own higher education capacity to offer a cheaper and increasingly well respected alternative. The report is based on a Student Pulse survey of more than 11,000 students from 143 countries.