Number of Indian students in US increases by 12.3%: Report

New Delhi: The number of Indians studying in the US increased by 12.3 percent in 2016-17, according to a report released by the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs on Monday.

The number of foreign students in the US increased by 3 percent over the previous year and the number of Americans studying abroad grew by 4 percent, according to the 2017 Open Doors Report on international exchange data.

India is the second leading place of origin for students coming to the US. Indians account for 17.3 percent of the total foreign students in America, it said.

36.2 per cent of the Indian students in America are enrolled in engineering courses, while 35.4 percent of them are pursuing maths and computer science. 56 percent of the Indian students are studying at the graduate level.

In 2016-17, US colleges and universities hosted a record 1.08 million foreign students.

The number of students from the US to India to study for academic credit at their home university decreased by 5.8 per cent during the period, the report said.

"American universities provide unparallelled access to instructors and a wide variety of internship and research opportunities.

"We strongly support educational exchanges because of shared benefits, not just in economic terms but in our mutual understanding of each other," said Karl M Adam, Deputy Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy here.