UCLA has the sixth largest population of international students enrolled at its campus, according to a report published Monday by an independent nonprofit organization.
The Open Doors Report showed that UCLA has admitted about 9,580 international students for the 2013-2014 academic year, an increase of 13.7 percent from last year. UCLA has continued to ranked sixth in this report for the past four years.
The Institute of International Education, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, publishes the Open Doors report annually.
“In recent years, UCLA has sought out additional international students as a way to enrich the educational experience by exposing all students to diverse backgrounds and perspectives,” said Phil Hampton, UCLA spokesman. “In addition, students from outside California pay enhanced tuition, helping to ensure a level of funding needed to maintain academic excellence amid long-term reductions in state support.”
The top five countries that UCLA’s international students come from are China, South Korea, India, Canada and Taiwan.
In the United States, the total number of international students enrolled in higher education for the 2013-2014 academic year is about 886,050, an increase of 8 percent compared to last year.
According to the report, 37 percent of international students in the U.S. come from China and Saudi Arabia. Last year, China and Saudi Arabia contributed to 94 percent of the increase in number of international students. However, this year, these countries only contributed to 73 percent of the increase.
Elaine Clayton, from the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, said a wider range of countries are contributing to the increase in the number of international students this year.
The number of international students in the U.S. from India had been declining for the past three years. However, this year, the number of students from India increased by 6.1 percent. Additionally, the number of international students from Brazil has increased by 22 percent in the past year.
New York University ranked first in the country in the report, with about 11,160 international students enrolled at the university.
California continues to be the state attracting the highest number of international students in the country, with about 121,650 international students attending schools in the state. USC ranked second in the report and UC Berkeley was 18th.
The report also said about 209,400 students from the U.S. studied abroad in the 2012-2013 year. The number of U.S. students studying abroad has increased more than three-fold in the past two decades. And about half of these students opt to study in Europe, according to the report.