More Pinoys now studying in US

WASHINGTON - Filipinos enrolled in US colleges and universities for the school year 2005-06 rose by 6.4 percent to 3,758 over the previous school year, the Institute of International Education (IIE) said in its annual report on global academic mobility published on Monday.

IIE is an independent non-profit organization that aims to promote and strengthen educational relations between the US and other countries.

The IIE report also showed students from the Philippines as among the fewest, while India had the most number of students enrolled in US schools during the period at 76,503. There were 564,766 foreign students in the US during the period.

Students from China comprised the second biggest number of foreign students in the US at 62,582, followed by South Korea at 58,847, and Japan at 38,712. Students from Canada totaled 28,202 while those from Taiwan numbered 27,876. Mexico was next with 13,931 students, followed by Turkey with 11,622; Germany, 8,829; and Thailand, 8,765.

Among Southeast Asian countries, Thailand has the biggest number of students in the US followed by Indonesia, Malaysia. Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Based on US statistics, about 0.3 percent of college students from the Philippines – or between 5,500 and 6,000 – study overseas. Slightly more than 60 percent go to the US and the rest go to Britain, Australia, Japan and Germany.

Many students around the world consider a US degree as their passport to better job opportunities back home.

The IIE "Open Doors 2006’’ report said the current school year was the seventh year in a row that foreign enrollees breached the half a million mark.

International students contribute about $13.5 billion to the US economy through their tuition and living expenses, making higher education the country’s fifth largest service sector earner, the US Department of Commerce said.

Foreign students bring money to the national economy and provide revenue to their host states from their living expenses, including room/board, books and supplies, transportation, health insurance, support for accompanying family members, and other miscellaneous items, the department said.

Foreign enrollment in US colleges peaked at 586,323 three years ago, followed by declines of 2.4 percent and 1.3 percent in the past two years in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on US soil.