Rise In Indian Students At US Master's Degree Prgm

Indian students are increased in studying the Master's Degree programme in US. The report revealed that the Indian students are more in pursuing master's degree in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Department of Homeland Security for the National Science Foundation tabulated the figures that, India was the top sending country for STEM and graduate enrolled in Master's degree programs and represented 56% of all STEM students seeking master's degree in 2009.

In fact, Indian graduate students pursuing engineering and computer science led in master's degree. Students from China were placed second at 15% and were more evenly distributed across STEM fields, with the exception of engineering.

The remaining top eight countries accounted for a total of 13% of all foreign students seeking master's degree in STEM fields in 2009, less than that of china, said the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in its recent report. But when it comes to Doctoral programs, chinese students took the top position, as the report discloses.

In terms of doctoral programs, China sent the most STEM students in 2009, making up 35%. Chinese PH.D students were almost half of all foreign nationals in mathematics and physical sciences and roughly a third of all foreign nationals in the other STEM fields. Doctoral degree students from India represented 16% if STEM doctorates in 200, it said.

The report says, the number of full time graduate students in Science, Engineering and Health fields who were foreign students, grew from 91,150 in 1990 to 1,48,923 in 2009, with most of the increase occurred after 1999.

The report further mentions that out of the four STEM disciplines it is engineering discipline which has been the most attractive for students. About 40,000 graduate students were awarded to foreign STEM students in 2009, with 10,000 of those going to Ph.D applicants.

The report also drops light on the number of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs), who were employment based principal immigrants, for the decade 2000-09 and attributes 44% (2,97,668) of the total 6,76,642 to STEM occupations.

Report said, "Of all of the LPRs reporting STEM occupations over this decade, 52% entered as professional and skilled workers".

CRS report said, "STEM graduates seeking LPR status are likely to wait in line to obtain LPR Status. Those immigrating as professional and skilled workers face wait times of may years, but those who meet the criteria of the extraordinary ability or advanced degree preference categories have much shorter wait".