Dive Summary:
- Chinese applications to U.S. graduate schools fell 5% this spring after seven years of double-digit increases, which Council of Graduate Schools President Debra W. Stewart describes as "disturbing" and "a post-9/11 kind of drop."
- A report issued by the council Monday revealed that, overall, international applications rose 1%--the lowest growth in eight years.
- According to the report, a 20% increase in U.S. graduate school applications from India prevented the application growth rate from falling into negative territory, though the overall numbers are still troubling for universities that rely on foreign students to offset weakening stateside enrollment.
From the article:
... Indeed, Chinese growth has been so constant that Ms. Stewart disbelieved the numbers when they began coming in. (The council surveyed its 507 American members from late January to March; the responding institutions account for some 64 percent of the 103,000 graduate degrees awarded to international students.) But after double-checking the figures and querying individual universities about their applicant pools, it became clear: Chinese applications are down, and in a major way. ...