US tops 1.1 million international students as OPT fuels growth

IIE’s newly released Open Doors report for academic year 2024/25 has revealed another year of growth for America’s international student population, surpassing 1.1 million, including OPT participants.

“This data highlights the impact international students have in driving innovation, advancing scholarship, and strengthening cross cultural understanding,” said IIE president Jason Czyz, highlighting their contributions to US colleges and communities. 

The data revealed international undergraduate enrolment grew by 4% – the first significant increase at that level since the pandemic – while graduate student numbers dipped by 3% and non-degree students fell by a similar amount.  

The overall 5% growth was primarily driven by OPT participation, which saw a continued increase of 21% – just below last year’s growth rate and largely driven by Indian students whose OPT participation rose by 47% on the previous year. According to IIE, just under half (49%) of students on the OPT workstream hail from India.

Amid growing calls for OPT to be separated from official international student counts, Open Doors data includes the workstream “because it is an essential component of an international student’s academic experience,” said IIE’s head of research Mirka Martel, unveiling the report.  

“It is supported by their college or university, and it provides an opportunity for students to gain practical work experience in their field of study,” she continued.

The data showed the number of international students enrolling at a US institution for the first time in fall 2024 decreased by 7%. This varied by academic level, with new undergraduates rising by 5%, while the number of new graduates fell by 15%. 

Meanwhile, IIE’s fall 2025 snapshot data also released today, showed new international enrolments for this semester down by 17% – reflecting sector concerns about the impact of current visa restrictions and policy challenges on students coming to US campuses.  

The 2024/25 data, representing a period before Donald Trump’s second administration, saw India retain its top position as America’s largest sending country for the second year in a row, with 49% of Indian students on graduate programs and 40% participating in OPT. 

However, the data suggests the Indian graduate student boom may have passed its peak, with graduate student numbers falling by 10% compared to undergraduate enrolments that grew by 11%.  

While Indian students accounted for 31% of the total, Chinese students comprised 23%, followed by lesser proportions of students from South Korea, Canada, Vietnam and Nepal.  

Even with their continued growth, international students made up just over 6% of America’s total student population, with stakeholders emphasising their relatively small share as compared to the UK (27%), Australia (31%) and Canada (38%), according to IIE figures.  

For the fourth year in a row, graduate students made up the largest group of international students in the US, as international doctoral student numbers reached their highest total in 2024/25.  

Notably, community colleges experienced the largest rise in international student levels (8%), in line with a recent study that found community colleges have been more active in international education than mainstream data has traditionally suggested. 

The Open Doors data found more than half (57%) of all international students were studying in STEM fields last year, with math & computer science accounting for over a quarter of all international enrolments. 

The report comes as a new study found the knock-on effect of Trump’s actions could cause a potential one-third decline in international STEM graduates entering the US workforce, which could lead to potential annual losses of $480bn for the next decade. 

According to the US Department of Commerce, international students contributed nearly $55bn to the US economy in 2024/25 and supported more than 355,000 jobs.  

California, New York and Texas remained the top three states hosting the most international students, though the largest growths were reported in Missouri (8%), Texas (8%) and Illinois (7%), the data showed.

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