Chennai: While pointing out the 12.3 per cent growth in Indian students studying in the US universities in 2016-17, Robert Burgess, US Consul General in Chennai, said that it is still the best destination for getting the quality education.
He interacted with reporters to give details about the Open Doors annual report on International Educational Exchange here on Monday.
As per the report, India is the second leading place of origin for students coming to the United States, comprising of 17.3 per cent of total international students in the US. A total of 1,86,267 students from India were studying in the US during 2016-17 while China had a total of 350,755 students. The Indian students contribute $6.5 billion to the US economy in 2016.
When pointed out that countries including Europe, Australia, and Russia also attracting more Indian students recently, Mr Robert Burgess said, "We welcome competition. That is why we are also conducting education fairs. But, the US is still the best place to get the quality education."
Though the number of Indian students has witnessed an increase, the growth rate was down from 24.9% in 2015-16 to 12.3% in 2016/17.
The top host destinations for US students studying abroad in 2015/16 were the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. The number of American students studying in India dropped from 4,438 to 4,181 with India ranking 15.
"It is still unusual for US students to come out and study here. They usually come for one or two semesters as part of their graduation programme," he said.
The majority of Indian students in the US study at the graduate level. Of total students 56.3% of them are graduate students, 11.8 per cent are undergraduates and 1.2% others while 30.7% are doing their optional practical training.
"Still 72 per cent of Indian students are joining in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) disciplines. Now, many students preferring to study animation, filmmaking, and other courses," said Maya Sundararajan, regional officer, US-India Educational Foundation.
In 2016-17, for the second consecutive year, US colleges and universities hosted more than one million international students, reaching a record high of 1.08 million.
