Douglas R. Boyan
Published: 1981
Total Pages: 152
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Results of a 1979-1980 survey of foreign students in the United States are presented. The survey, which accompanied the Annual Census of Foreign Students in the United States, studied country of origin, field of study, academic level, sex, and age of foreign students. Of the 2,651 institutions that reported foreign students, 1,961 or 74 percent provided the additional data, reporting on 160,840 individual students. The data indicate a pattern of growth in the foreign student population. The distribution and age/sex of these students, along with information on students from leading countries within each world region since 1949-1950, are detailed. Data on the field of study choices by foreign students and their academic levels indicate that engineering and engineering technologies were chosen by 25 percent of all students, compared to business and management (15.9 percent), social science (9.1 percent), or natural and life sciences (8.3 percent). Forty-five percent of the sample were enrolled in bachelor's degree programs, while 35.9 percent were in graduate programs, 13 percent in associate degree programs, and 6 percent in nondegree programs. The overall ratio of men to women among foreign students was 73.4 to 26.6 percent, and 40 percent of the sample were 22 years old or younger. Appended materials include a comparison of numbers of students found by the additional survey and the Annual Census, a list of responding institutions, field of study and country taxonomies, and a questionnaire. (SW)