Small Business Trends notes some changes in IT training in the US. It’s stated that, "Community colleges are growing their market share. They are becoming more creative in partnering with business and provide practical training at lower cost. Apparently 2-year associate degrees in IT are a growing trend." Here we see colleges taking away some of the traditional market share of universities. Perhaps it’s because colleges have more flexible business models, and can better meet the needs of students.
There is also a reference to statistics from the Online Universities Weblog on the decline of foreign graduate students in the US:
- 28% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from abroad to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004
- 36% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from abroad to U.S. graduate engineering programs between 2003 and 2004
- 45% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from China to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004
- 28% DECLINE IN NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS from India to U.S. graduate programs between 2003 and 2004
- 88% PROPORTION OF U.S. INSTITUTIONS reporting a decline in international applications between 2003 and 2004
- 67 AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS the U.S. State Department has been taking to conduct security checks for non-U.S.science and engineering students seeking to study "sensitive technologies" in the United States
Is this decline due to the new US security requirements, or are there just more options for foreign students? Does anyone know of similar statistics available for Canadian universities? If Canadian universities are not showing a decline, it may mean that this is an opportunity to focus on international student recruitment. One source that I found shows international student enrolment, at the graduate and undergraduate levels, increasing each year to 2001. I haven’t found any data for more recent years.
