The number of Taiwanese studying in the US dropped 5 percent to 26,685 in the past academic year.
Overall, the number of foreign students in the US increased 3 percent to 690,923, said the Open Doors report, published annually by the Institute of International Education.
Costs were a factor in the fall in the numbers of Taiwanese students attending US universities and colleges. Universities and colleges in Taiwan are also believed to have increased substantially in quality over the last few years, thus reducing the need for top students to go abroad.
The number of Chinese students rose 30 percent to a total of about 128,000, as China replaced India as the top “sending country,” with close to 18 percent of the total international student population in the US. Students numbers from India increased 2 percent to a total of about 105,000 or 15 percent of international students
The other top 10 countries include South Korea (72,153, down 4 percent), Canada (28,145, down 5 percent) and Japan (24,842, down 15 percent).
“American colleges and universities have attracted a record number of international students,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock said.
The State Department had made it a priority to reach out to talented international students, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds, she said.
“A global education prepares them to become leaders in their own countries and societies,” she said.
The US continues to host more international students than any other country and those students contribute close to US$20 billion to the US economy through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses.
Together, the top three sending countries — China, India and South Korea — comprise nearly half of the total international enrollments in US higher education while the next three — Canada, Taiwan and Japan — represent 4 percent each.
Business and management remains the most popular field of study for international students in the US, followed by engineering. Physical and life sciences and math and computer science are the second most popular.
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