New Report on U.S. Students Pursuing Degrees Abroad

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A new report from IIE’s Center for Academic Mobility Research, made public at this week’s NAFSA conference, finds that there are over 46,500 U.S. students pursuing degrees abroad. The findings come from a two-year analysis of key destinations and fields of study.  Conference attendees can download the new report here, and can visit the IIE booth (705) for more information.

New Frontiers: U.S. Students Pursuing Degrees Abroad also shows that of the tens of thousands of U.S. students who pursue full degrees abroad, about 84 percent are enrolled in bachelor’s or master’s degrees, and 16 percent are pursuing doctoral degrees. The top fields for degree study by U.S. students abroad are the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences.

The Survey on U.S. Students Enrolled Overseas in Degree-Seeking Programs was administered from May-April 2013 by IIE, in its capacity as the U.S. partner and Secretariat for Project Atlas®, a global network of 27 country and research partners collaborating on data collection and research on student mobility and the internationalization of higher education.

Project Atlas partner countries representing four world regions – Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North America—submitted data for the study. New Frontiers: U.S. Students Pursuing Degrees Abroad is complementary to the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange and helps to complete the picture of outbound postsecondary mobility in the United States.