China, which had the No. 2 ranking in this survey from the 2001-02 academic year to 2008-09, moves up to the top spot in the latest data. Nearly 128,000 from China studied in the US in 2009-10 – an impressive 30 percent increase from the previous year. The big factor driving China’s surge is increased desire for a US undergraduate degree. While the bulk (just over half) of Chinese students still come to the US for graduate-level studies, about 31 percent are now here as undergrads – more than four times as many as five years ago.
“We anticipate that those numbers will keep climbing,” says Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education. Students from China make up more than 18 percent of international students in America.
