Decline in New Foreign Grad Students Slows

摘要

The number of international students beginning graduate studies at U.S. universities has declined for the third year in a row. But the 6% drop is the smallest in 3 years, an improvement that some attribute in part to faster handling og visa applications. The news, in a survey released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), comes as a relief to higher education organizations, which had braced for the worst earlier this year after a 28% drop in international graduate applications and an 18% drop in offers of admission. Enrollments, which represent the final step in that progression, were down 10% in the fall of 2003 following an 8% drop the year before. The decline appeared in the first academic year after the 11 September terrorist attacks and reversed several years of growth in the number of international students.