Fall in foreign students in US colleges

[capt_buzzard]

Numbers of foreign students in US colleges have fallen for the first time in 32 years.

A recent study by the Institute of International Education, found numbers of such students had fallen to 572,509 in 2003-04, drop of 2.4pc on the previous academic year.

In a recent case, Li Gao, a Chinese student at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, had thought it would be routine to renew her visa to continue studying. When she told the consular officer at the US Embassy in Beijing last year she was working towards a doctorate in chemistry, he told her she would need a new background check. Although she had been studying in the US now for four years, she had to wait so long that she missed classes.

A security crackdown since 9/11 has contributed to the fall in foreign students entering the US of A.