International Students in American Higher Education: A Quantitative Study Comparing Their Distribution from Both Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives and the Implications on Policy Making

Abstract

This study examined the distribution of international students in American higher education in each region of America. Non-parametric tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Kruskal-Wallis test, were employed to explore the significant differences of international student population among the five American regions from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. The results of the study show that 1) there is significant difference of international student population among the five American regions in 2016; 2) Northeastern, Southeastern, and Midwestern regions have significantly larger international student population in 2016 than that in 2015; however, Western and Southwestern regions do not have significantly larger international student population in 2016 than that in 2015; 3) climate and geographic location, and the population of immigrants are the reasons of the current distribution of international students; and 4) there are four potential strategies that can be applied to promote the internationalization of higher education and the enrollment of international students. Two future research directions were proposed at the end of the paper.