11/17/92

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558

Foreign student registration sets record for seventh year

STANFORD -- Foreign student registration at Stanford has set a record for the seventh year in a row, according to the university's Bechtel International Center.

A total of 3,031 non-U.S. citizen students are enrolled at Stanford this fall, up from 2,660 in 1991 and 2,187 in 1986. They include 658 permanent U.S. residents and 2,373 students on non-immigrant visas from 95 countries.

Non-immigrant international students now represent 4 percent of the university's undergraduates (260 out of 6,564), 24 percent of the graduate students (1,731 out of 7,329) and 41 percent of the postdoctoral students on campus (372 out of 907).

According to International Center Director John Pearson, this year's jump may be due primarily to a general increase in master's students across campus, which was agreed to last year as part of the university's overall deficit reduction plan. (Master's students typically pay full tuition, as opposed to many undergraduates and most doctoral students, who receive significant financial aid.)

"We also had an increase of international undergrads," said Pearson, who compiles the statistics each year. "There are now 260 non- immigrant undergraduate students, up from 206 last year."

Half of the non-immigrant international students at Stanford are from Asian countries, a quarter are European, 16 percent are from the Americas, 6 percent are from the Middle East and North Africa, 2 percent are from the Pacific Basin and 1 percent are from Sub-Saharan Africa.

China continued as the leading country of origin this year, with 233 non-immigrant students (up from 206 in 1991), followed by Canada with 204, Japan with 196, and India with 184. Taiwan moved up to fifth place with 183, followed by South Korea with 145, Germany with 111, the United Kingdom with 95, Hong Kong with 76 and Singapore with 71.

Engineering continued its lead this year as the most popular field for foreign students, with 928 non-immigrant international students composing 28 percent of the school's total enrollment.

The School of Humanities and Sciences has 545 non-immigrant international students (12 percent of its enrollment); the School of Business, 172 (21 percent); the School of Earth Sciences, 89 (36 percent); the School of Medicine, 53 (7 percent); the School of Education, 38 (10 percent); and the School of Law, 23 (4 percent).

Majors with the highest percentage of non-immigrant international students include physiology, with 67 percent, followed by petroleum engineering (66 percent) and food research (55 percent).

About 22 percent of Stanford's non-immigrant foreign students -- 528 -- are women. Married students number 701, or about 30 percent of the total.

Individual country totals are as follows:

Asia: People's Republic of China, 233; Japan, 196; India, 184; Taiwan, 183; South Korea, 145; Hong Kong, 76; Singapore, 71; Pakistan, 25; Malaysia, 21; Philippines, 19; Thailand, 12; Sri Lanka, 9; Indonesia, 8; Bangladesh, 6; Nepal, 3; Macao, 1; Mauritius, 1.

The Americas: Canada, 204; Mexico, 56; Brazil, 27; Venezuela, 17; Colombia, 13; Argentina, 11; Trinidad and Tobago, 9; Chile, 7; Peru, 7; Guatemala, 3; Bolivia, 2; Costa Rica, 2; El Salvador, 2; Guyana, 2; Jamaica, 2; Uruguay, 2; Dominican Republic, 1; Granada, 1; Nicaragua, 1; Panama, 1.

Europe: Germany, 111; United Kingdom, 95; France, 52; Italy, 41; Greece, 40; Spain, 32; Switzerland, 27; former USSR, 26; Belgium, 25; Netherlands, 20; Sweden, 17; Denmark, 15; Norway, 15; Ireland, 11; former Yugoslavia, 9; Finland, 8; Iceland, 8; Portugal, 7; Hungary, 6; Poland, 6; Austria, 5; Cyprus, 5; Bulgaria, 4; Romania, 4; Czechoslovakia, 2; Luxembourg, 2; Armenia, 1.

Africa: South Africa, 12; Kenya, 5; Nigeria, 4; Ghana, 2; Tanzania, 2; Benin, 1; Cameroon, 1; Namibia, 1.

Middle East and North Africa: Israel, 57; Turkey, 26; Iran, 15; Lebanon, 12; Saudi Arabia, 9; Egypt, 3; Jordan, 3; Tunisia, 3; Algeria, 2; Iraq, 2; Kuwait, 1; Morocco, 1; Oman, 1; Syria, 1; United Arab Emirates, 1.

Pacific Basin: Australia, 42; New Zealand, 9.

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