A report by the U.S. Institute of International Education released on Monday, Nov. 16, revealed that the number of Chinese mainland students studying in U.S. colleges and universities have exceeded 300,000 for the first time this academic year.
The 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, published annually by the institute, showed that there are now 304,040 Chinese mainland students in the U.S., a 10.8-percent increase from the previous academic year.
The China Daily article said that the report indicates that Chinese mainland students now account for 31.2 percent of the total 974,926 international students in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2014-15 academic year.
The report also bared that the other top sources of students in the U.S. are India, with 132,888 students; South Korea, 63,710; Saudi Arabia, 59,945; and Canada, 27,240.
Taiwan ranked seventh, with 20,993 students; Hong Kong ranked 20th with 8,012; and India registered the strongest growth this year, with an increase of 29.4 percent.
Undergraduate students from the Chinese mainland had a lower growth rate in 2014-15 than in previous years. The recent report, however, showed that 2014-15 was the first academic year that Chinese undergraduates outnumbered Chinese graduate students. The report showed that among the Chinese mainland students, 41 percent were undergraduates and 39.6 percent were graduate students.
In the current academic year, India, China and Brazil accounted for most of the growth in international students on U.S. campuses.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international students in all the U.S. states have contributed more than $30 billion to the economy in 2014, which also includes the $9.8 billion contributed by students from the Chinese mainland.
The Open Doors report also found that the number of U.S. students studying abroad grew 5 percent in 2013-14, the highest growth rate prior to the 2008 economic downturn.
In addition, the report showed that American students who study abroad have more than tripled in the last two decades, which reached a high of 304,467.
For U.S. students studying abroad, the top destinations were Britain, Italy, Spain, France and China. The number of U.S. students in China dropped 4.5 percent in the 2013-14 academic year to 13,763.
Evan Ryan, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Educational and Cultural Affairs, said in a news release: "It is critical that we continue to make study abroad more accessible. These exchanges strengthen ties between the United States and countries around the world."
"International experience is one of the most important components of a 21st century education," IIE President Allan Goodman said. "Studying in another country prepares students to be real contributors to working across borders to address key issues in the world we share."
When he visited China in Nov. 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the sending of 100,000 American students to China in the following four years.
During President Xi Jinping's state visit to the U.S. in late September, Obama expressed plans to expand to 1 million the number of U.S. students studying Mandarin by 2020, through the 1-Million Strong Initiative.