Applications from prospective international students to U.S. graduate schools for fall 2010 increased by 7 per cent overall, according to a Council of Graduate Schools report released today. This growth was driven largely by increased applications from China, which rose 19 per cent. Applications from India and South Korea appear to have stabilized, the Council reports, after significant declines last year. Additionally, applications from international students to U.S. grad schools “appear to be above 2003 levels, finally reversing the large declines from 2004 and 2005.”

While the Council calls the figures “an encouraging sign,” Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis at CGS, cautions in the Chronicle of Higher Education that admissions data “often are not a strong indicator of enrollment trends. Last year applications were up 4 per cent, but enrollments remained unchanged”:

A variety of factors could influence enrollments, Mr. Bell said, including continuing worldwide economic turmoil, the impact of the downturn on the availability of financial aid, growing competition from other countries, and increased capacity for graduate education in students’ home countries. What’s more, Mr. Bell pointed out, the rise in applications could mean more international-student interest—or it could simply reflect a smaller group of prospective students’ submitting applications to more universities.

This marks the fifth year in a row that international applications to American graduate schools have gone up, although in recent years the rate of growth has slowed. 

InsideHigherEd.com also examines the CGS report.

[Note: Chronicle article is available to subscribers only.]