People's Daily Online, Beijing, November 15 (Reporter Hao Mengjia) According to the latest data from the 2016 U.S. Open Doors Report, the number of Chinese students registered in U.S. higher education institutions increased from 304,040 to 328,547 in the 2015-2016 academic year, an increase of 8.1% over the previous year. The number of Chinese students studying in the United States has ranked first among all countries sending students to the United States for seven consecutive years, accounting for 31.5% of the total number of international students in the United States.

The report stated that the total number of international students pursuing higher education in the United States reached 1,043,839, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year. International students mainly come from China, India, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The number of students from India reached nearly 166,000, an increase of 25%. Students from Saudi Arabia and South Korea each account for about 6%.

Last year, international students contributed a total of $35.8 billion to the U.S. economy. Among them, 67% of students studied abroad at their own expense, and 17% received scholarships and grants from American universities. According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Chinese students contributed US$11.43 billion to the United States from 2015 to 2016.

For the second consecutive year, the number of Chinese undergraduates studying in the United States has exceeded the number of graduate students. In the 2015-2016 academic year, the number of undergraduate students in China was 135,629, an increase of 8.9% over the previous year. The number of graduate students reached 123,250, an increase of 2.4% over the previous year. The total number of non-degree students and selective internship training students from China was 69,668, an increase of 5.3% and 21.2% respectively from the previous year.

The number of international students studying engineering, mathematics and computer science has grown rapidly. The number of students studying engineering has increased by 10% compared with the previous year, while the number of students studying mathematics and computer science has increased by 25%.

International students are mostly concentrated in California, New York and Texas. One out of every three international students studies in these three states. In 2015/2016, the number of international students studying in California exceeded 149,000, an increase of 10.5% over the previous academic year.

The report also shows that China remains the fifth most popular destination for American students to study abroad, and the most popular destination in Asia. In the 2014-2015 school year, more than 12,790 American students studied in China. The U.S. Embassy in China and many Chinese and American organizations work together to encourage more American students to study in China. The U.S. Department of State has newly established the Office of Study Abroad to provide the American public with information on student exchanges in China.