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International students earn more than half of advanced STEM degrees in the U.S.

Jenny Ung
USA TODAY

For Yashwanth Kumar, studying in America has always been his dream.

After receiving his undergraduate degree at Anna University in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, he is now a graduate student at Arizona State University pursuing a Masters in Biomedical Engineering.

International students make up more than half of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) advanced degrees earned at American colleges and universities, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center on June 18, 2015.

Mohammed Baoum, a graduate student at Arizona State University, also noticed that most of classmates were international students himself in his studies in pursuit of a Masters in industrial engineering.

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Though international student graduates earned only 11.6% of all doctoral degrees in the U.S., foreign students earn 57% of all engineering doctoral degrees, 53% of all computer and information sciences doctoral degrees and 50% of mathematics and statistics doctoral degrees, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Via: Pew Research Center

Baoum says that the job market plays a big role in these percentage rates.

“Companies and governments pay millions of dollars for engineering research and solutions, which motivate the most talented people to see degrees in engineering,” he says. “Also, the culture encourages and supports such a direction.”

The study also noted that schools often use commissioned agents to recruit foreign students, which was formally endorsed by the National Association for College Admission Counseling in 2013.

While Baoum was not approached by a commissioned agent, he had heard of students who had.

“In Saudi Arabia, I heard many times about university fairs where students could meet with American university representatives to learn more about their universities,” Baoum says.

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Compared to U.S. college students as a whole, international students are more concentrated in STEM fields, the study said. While business was the most popular field of study with 188,179 students, engineering was next at 160,128 and computer and information sciences at 65,291.

“Engineering and business are the two biggest draws for international students,” Kumar says. “Especially students from India who make up a majority of the population in any university next to China come here for engineering.”

Baoum explains that families often try to encourage their children to study careers in STEM fields, especially engineering, while in America.

“I also think many international students choose to study in America since they believe it is the leading country to the world economy,” he says. “Also many of them have been exposed to the American culture through movies so they would like to reach that place where they used to see on TV.”

“It's a cultural trend back in India that either we should be an engineer or a doctor,” Kumar says. “We end up choosing engineering in the undergraduate studies, some by passion, some without any choice and we pursue that goal.”


Jenny Ung is a student at Arizona State University and a summer 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.

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