Number of Foreign Students Rises in US

(englishtime.us)

Edited by ENGLISH TIME
Saturday, 17 November 2007
A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased three percent last year. This was the first notable1 increase since two thousand one.

American schools last fall had five hundred eighty-three thousand foreign students. The record2 is five hundred eighty-six thousand. That was set in two thousand two after many years of gains3. But after that the numbers fell.For the sixth year, India sent the most international students last fall, almost eighty-four thousand. That was up ten percent from the year before. China remained in second place, and South Korea was third.

Japan was fourth among the twenty leading senders of foreign students. But the number of Japanese fell sharply4 - nine percent.There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were notable increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, to nearly eight thousand.The leading area of study was business and management5. That was the choice for eighteen percent of foreign students last year. Second was engineering6.
1. notable (a) ~ (for sth) deserving to be noticed or to receive attention; important
2. record (n) the best result or the highest or lowest level that has ever been reached, especially in sport
3. gain (n) an increase in the amount of sth, especially in wealth or weight
4. sharply (adv) quickly and suddenly or loudly: nhanh chóng, đáng kể
5. management (n) the act of running and controlling a business or similar organization
6. engineering (n) the study of engineering as a subject