Indian students account for 11.8% surge in US, now at 27% of all foreign enrolments

Indian students accounted for 27% of the entire foreign students in the US in 2024, up a 11.8% from last year, as per the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Student and Exchange Visitor Program's latest annual report.

The previous week report mentioned that 4,22,335 Indian students were enrolled in US schools in 2024 and were part of a total of 1.58 million international students — a 5.3% increase from 2023.

It also mentioned that 1,65,524 international students took part in the post-completion STEM OPT extension program, India (48%) and China (20.4%) contributing to the largest percentages.

While India saw more than 11% growth in students, China (3,29,541 students) saw a paltry 0.25% decline from 2023. India's 27% market share of the overall foreign student base is higher than China's 20%. 

ASIA DOMINATES FOREIGN STUDENT POPULATION IN US

Asia topped the list of active foreign student records in America with 11,34,953 foreign students constituting 71.7% of the foreign students in the US, as per the ICE report. 

Nearly 91% of all foreign students were enrolled for an SEVP-approved associate, bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree.

Specifically, US international students gained 14,34,748 higher education qualifications, up by nearly 82,000 from calendar year 2023. Bachelor or master's degrees were most popular, accounting for 79% of higher education qualifications.

Indian students surpassed Chinese students in the US for the first time in 15 years for the 2023-24 academic year, according to an Open Doors 2024 report, published in November last year.

Indian students now form a large percentage of foreign students in the majority of Western countries and are among the top contributors to the US international student population.

The same is the trend in Germany, as reported in recent statistics published by the Academic Exchange Service in September 2024. 49,483 students from India applied to pursue the 2023-24 winter semester in Germany, an increase of 15.1% over the previous year, and became Germany's largest foreign student community, surpassing China.