U.S. students choosing India as a destination for study abroad has increased by an average of 24 percent per year since 2001/02, as highlighted in the recently released 2013 edition of the Asia Matters for America booklet. For the last reported year, 2010/11, a total of 4,345 American students decided to go to India compared to 627 in 2001/02. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative during Prime Minister Singh’s visit to the White House in November 2009. This initiative is designed to “to increase university linkages and support junior faculty development between U.S. and Indian universities.” The first U.S.-India Higher Education Summit was hosted at Georgetown University in October 2011 where “the summit highlighted the importance of education as a pillar of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue and set forth goals for deepening this aspect of our bilateral relationship in cooperation with the many excellent institutions of higher education in both countries.”
On the reverse side, a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools showed that Indian applications to US graduate programs for 2013 increased by a dramactic 20 percent over the previous year. This increase helped compenstate for the 5 percent decline in Chinese graduate applications for 2013. “Chinese applicant declines were offset by a 20 percent increase in applications from India, which accounts for 20 percent of all international graduate students at U.S. institutions” according to the Council of Graduate Schools. After China, India is the second largest soucre for foreign students studying in the United States.