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Why International Students Matter To The US – An infographic by the team at Student.com

International students from all four corners of the globe are flocking to U.S. universities in numbers that have never been seen before, with almost one million overseas students enrolling each year.

According to 2015 data from U.S. News & World Report, international students now make up a third of the total student population at a number of prestigious schools. At Soka University of America, for example, 38 percent of studentsderive from overseas, the most of any Liberal Arts College in the United States.

Florida Institute of Technology topped the National Universities category with 33 percent of their total student cohort hailing from outside the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report

The same data also revealed that a number of colleges provide generous financial rewards for successful foreign students. Skidmore College, for example, located in New York state, took the lead with an average financial incentive worth US$56,600 – an amount that exceeds the school’s reported 2015-2016 tuition and fees, which total $48,970.

“The students come away with an elite education, but the U.S. economy also reaps the benefits of this record growth in enrollment levels to the tune of $36 billion and over 370,000 new jobs each year,” Jess Ashworth writes for Student.com.

“We’ve dug into the data to show where international student numbers are concentrated and which U.S. states enjoy the most job creation [infographic above]. Our infographic breaks down the new jobs by industry to reveal how almost half are outside the education sector. It also shows where the students are coming from and how their spending breaks down.” 

According to the Student.com report, the number of international students in the U.S. throughout 2014-15 surged by ten percent to 974,377 – the biggest year-on-year growth rate since 1978/79. This accounts for 19 percent of mobile students worldwide, a larger share than any other nation, with almost 50 percent originating from China, India and the Republic of Korea.

“There are plenty of reasons why students choose the U.S., not least the dominance of its institutions in the world university rankings, with five U.S. universities in the global top 10, including the two top slots,” Ashworth concludes.

“The message is clear though, international study is a force for global good with beneficiaries far beyond students and universities.”

Image via Flickr

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