Concern at low share of foreign students taking PhDs

Applications from foreign students to US graduate programmes increased 2% to a record 676,484 this year, driven primarily by a 12% upswing in numbers from India but tempered by a 2% drop from China, a preliminary report says.

Half of all international applications were for programmes in the key STEM fields of engineering, mathematics and computer science, all of which enjoyed an increase in applications, says the report, released this week by the non-profit Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, DC.

But nearly two-thirds were for masters and certificate programmes, rather than PhDs, a surprising finding that "raises a lot more questions than we have answers for at this point", says council president Suzanne Ortega.

The survey, conducted annually since 2004 to give US graduate schools an early peek at autumn enrolment indicators, this year marked the 10th consecutive year of overall increases in applications – a sign, Ortega says, that the United States continues "to be the place that students see as having high quality and high value".

The survey this year for the first time tracks applications based on the level of the degree being pursued, a factor that provides insights into how students expect to pay for their degrees, what kinds of jobs their degrees will prepare them for and whether they intend to stay in the United States after earning their degree.

Vulnerable to volatility

Masters level students, for example, typically use personal funds to finance their education, which provides a lucrative revenue stream for US universities but also makes the applicant pool more vulnerable to economic volatility in their home countries.

Doctoral students are more likely to rely on universities and grants for funding, and also are more likely to go on to careers that fuel US innovation and economic growth.

While Ortega says she expected to see a larger proportion of applications to masters and certificate programmes than doctoral programmes, the difference (63% vs 37%, respectively) was greater than anticipated.

"We have had this sort of long-term assumption that most of our international graduate students are pursuing PhDs," she says. "Twenty-five years ago, that probably was exactly the case... but we had glimpses that something was changing."

Now, "our challenge is to investigate what these new data can tell us about the market for advanced skills", she says. "Are students preparing for careers in the US or at home after earning their degree? Are they drawn here by academic reputations, employment prospects, or professional advancement? How do economic conditions in the US and abroad influence international graduate enrolments?"

Of particular interest are international graduate enrolments in STEM – science, technology, mathematics and engineering – fields, which will be "crucial" to US research and workforce needs because demand is "unlikely to be met by homegrown talent alone", a release accompanying the report says.

Overall, a higher proportion of international graduate students enrolled in PhD programmes in autumn 2013 compared with domestic students (50%, or 142,477, vs 15%, or 209,261), a council report released last year shows.

The report is based on responses from 377 universities that collectively awarded about 70% of degrees granted to international students in 2013. A more comprehensive report will be released later this year.

Downward trend

This marks the third straight year of declines in applications from China, suggesting "the beginning of a new trend". China remains the source of the largest share of applications: 231,751, or 39%.

Applications by prospective students from India, the second-largest country, increased 12%, to 192,574, and 84% were for masters or certificate programmes, the largest share of any country.

Applications for business degrees declined 2%, likely a reflection of the growing global competition for talent, Ortega says.