The number of international students in the United States and American students studying abroad is at an all-time high, according to a Monday report by the Institute of International Education.
The survey, titled the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, reported that the United States saw an 8 percent increase and a record high of about 886,000 international students studying at colleges for the 2013-14 academic year, according to a Monday press release. About 290,000 American students, a 2 percent increase, studied abroad that same year.
“The United States is the number one destination for students seeking an international education,” said Rajika Bhandar, deputy vice president and research and evaluation director at IIE, in an email. “This is a testament to the strength of American universities and their reputations as global centers of innovation, knowledge and leadership worldwide.”
Enrollment by Chinese students increased 17 percent, totaling more than 274,000 students, according to the release.
Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said the university has a history of having a large international and geographic representation in its student population.
“It’s very competitive for international students,” he said. “19.5 percent were accepted. There’s definitely been a steady increase in international students applying to and seeking to enroll at BU. We have admissions officers who have been to those countries and answer questions at schools where there are students who are high-achieving and interested in studying abroad.”
Bhandar said studying abroad is a key opportunity to learn and grow as a person.
“International education is not just about trying out a new cuisine or learning a new language. It’s about forever seeing your own immediate world and the rest of the world in a whole new way,” she said. “The opportunity to live and learn abroad to prepare future U.S. generations for 21st century leadership roles and to be competitive in an increasingly global workforce is absolutely critical.”
Many students go to the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France and China, according to the release. Areas outside Europe such as Costa Rica, South Africa, South Korea, Peru and Thailand have seen significant increases in the amount of American students there abroad.
Laurie Pohl, vice president of enrollment and student affairs, said BU’s study abroad program is indicative of how the school is a global university.
“We’ve made a commitment not only to bring them to the U.S. but to send our students abroad,” she said. “That speaks to the importance of our global mission within the university, so I think that attracts them.”
Several students said opportunities to study abroad are boundless and invaluable.
Ernie Wu, a freshman in the College of Communication from China, said the amount of opportunities in the United States made the destination appealing.
“There are more opportunities for international education in other countries, and I think there are more opportunities to come to other countries to study,” he said. “The United States is a popular destination because it’s known as one of the higher education countries.”
Lisa Goldstein, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she will the spend the 2015 Spring semester in Sydney, Australia acquiring the experiences she needs for her future in psychology.
“I’ve wanted to go to Australia for a really long time, so it was kind of the perfect opportunity to go somewhere I’ve always wanted to go,” she said. “Plus, I really need internship experience for [medical] school, and so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. There’s no way you can do what I’m about to do any other way.”
Mustafa Shezhad, a CAS freshman who is from Pakistan, said he came to the United States because of the high educational reputation of American colleges.
“I certainly wanted a different setting. I come from a third-world country, so the quality of education is unparalleled,” he said. “It’s all about exposure. I find that that helps define who I am. It changes the way I think about things and the way I think about people. You think twice about judging people a certain way.”
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