The population of Indian students in the United States has dropped, going down to less than 100,000 even as the American education business continued to expand on the strength of growing interest from China, which now has 235,000 students in the US. According to the 2013 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, a 3.5% decrease in student enrolment from India in 2012-2013 (on top a 4% decline the previous year), HAS BROUGHT the Indian student-count in the US to 96,754, after more than 15 years of growth that began reversing for the first time in 2011. On the other hand, China, which was displaced by India as the biggest source of foreign students for a few years at the turn of the century, has surged ahead, registering a 21.4% increase in 2012-2013 over its count of 194,000 students in US educational institutions the previous year.
Saudi Arabia with 45,000 students has a 30% increase over the previous year, and is the other big driver of the 7% overall growth of foreign students in the US — now numbering nearly 820,000. Foreign students account for little less than 4% of the 21 million students enrolled in US higher education. Students from China, India, and South Korea now represent nearly 50% of the total number of international students in the US. After these three, no country represents more than 5% of the total.