Barbara Nelson, Gleaner Writer
Jamaica ranked number 25 as the place of origin of students coming to the United States in academic year 2005/2006, according to the Open Doors 2006 Report on International Education Exchange.
India, China and Korea were the big three - first, second and third - among countries from which students come to study in the U.S.
In academic year 2005/2006, there were 4,166 students from Jamaica studying in the United States. This figure shows a decrease of 4.6 per cent from the previous academic year. It follows Vietnam with 4,597.
The majority of Jamaican students study at the undergraduate level. In 2005/06 the breakdown was: 29.4 per cent graduate students, 64.8 per cent under-graduate and 5.9 per cent other.
However, 4,166 is the lowest figure for Jamaican students in the United States since 2000/01.
The most popular fields of study for international students in the U.S. are business and management (17.90 per cent) and engineering (15.7 per cent).
However, there was a 4.8 per cent change in the number of students studying agriculture, a 5.4 per cent change in the number studying education and a 3.1 per cent change in health professions.
Changes across region
For the Caribbean region as a whole, there was a -0.3 per cent change from the academic year 2004/05 when 13,898 students studied in the United States to 13,855 in 2005/06.
Trinidad and Tobago showed a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent from 2,930 in 2004/05 to 2,924 in 2005/06.
Barbados had 494 students in the United States in 2004/05. That number decreased by -5.5 per cent to 467 in 2005/06.
Grenada had 210 students in the United States in 2004/05. The number rose by 79 per cent to 376 in 2005/06. The number of students from the Cayman Islands in 2004/05 was 168. The number increased by 32.7 per cent to 223 in 2005/06.
Open Doors reports that international students contribute approximately US$13.5 billion to the U.S. economy. This money is spent on tuition, living expenses and related costs.
For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Southern California had the largest number of international students.
That institution in 2005/06 had 6,881 international students and was followed by Columbia University in New York (that moved from fourth to second place) with 5,575 and Purdue University, main campus in West Lafayette, with 5,540 international students.
Open Doors reports that international students contribute approximately US$13.5 billion to the United States economy.
Number of Jamaican students studying in the US
| Year | | Number |
| 2000/01 | | 4,225 |
2001/02 | | 4,286 |
2002/03 | | 4,723 |
2003/04 | | 4,994 |
2004/05 | | 4,368 |
2005/06 | | 4,166 |
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