INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES - A GIS STUDY OF THEIR ORIGINATION AND LOCATION

Oct 15, 2026

Investigates the places of origin of international students enrolled in U.S. higher education and their geographic distribution across the United States. Uses official data from the International Institution of Education (IIE) and transforms it into three GIS-based maps to enable direct spatial comparison. Finds that Asian countries supply a larger share of international students; California, New York, and Texas host the most; most participating universities are in the eastern region; and states with already large populations show faster growth over the past five years. Policy implications are discussed at the end.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Rationale of the Study

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A GIS STUDY OF THEIR ORIGINATION AND LOCATION YUAN YAO YONGHONG TONG Niagara University ABSTRACT This study investigated the places of origin of international students and their distribution in the United States higher education. The data concerning the population of international students were obtained from the official website of International Institution of Education (IIE), and transferred into three maps using geographic information systems (GIS) software so that a more direct view of the data was available. The results of the study showed that 1) A larger proportion of international students come from Asian countries; 2) California, New York, and Texas are the top three states hosting international students; 3) most of the universities enrolling international students are located in the eastern part of the country; and 4) the states with already large international student populations experienced a faster growth in the population of international students over the pastfive years. Some implications for policy planning are discussed at the end of this paper. INTRODUCTION The internationalization of higher education is a common phenomenon nowadays around the world. Nearly all the capable universities and institutions are actively involved in the trend, promoting the communications among the countries and bringing significant revenues in support of the universities as well. Internationalization of higher education has positive impacts on a country’s policy making (Lau & Lin, 2017; Viczko & Tascón, 2016; Wadhwa & Jha, 2014) and institutional reform (Wadhwa, 2016) . Moreover, it is also a manifestation of a country’s soft power capabilities (Popa, 2014) . Of all the aspects covered on the topic of higher education internationalization, the origin and distribution of international students in a country and the fluctuation of their number are worth exploring. For policy makers, the availability of the above information enables abetter understanding of the current situation, based on which they can implement corresponding policies to meet the needs of business and industry in the near future. As the most successful country with industrialized higher education, the United States is always the ideal destination for international students. In 2016, there were 1,043,839 international students studying in America, a 7.1% increase over the previous year (Institute of International Education, 2016) . International students have become bridges of culture and knowledge between the United States and other countries. At the same time, they also bring in a significant amount of revenue every year through their tuition and local expenditures, helping to boost the development of U.S. economy. This paper examines the origin and distribution of international students in THE United States, as well as the changes of student numbers in the past five years. With the support of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), maps can be generated to visualize the information and distribution of international students studying in the United States so that we can have a clearer view of where they are. Educational Planning 31 Vol. 25, No. 3 LITERATURE REVIEW Most of the existing literature concerning international students focuses on their acculturation and adaptation to the new environment. When international students have opportunities for social interaction and self-expression, they are more likely to adjust to another culture with the support of place attachments (Terrazas-Carrillo, Hong, & Pace, 2014) . Not only individual factors such as language fluency and coping ability affect the international students’ lived experiences and perceived satisfaction level of their study in the United States, but environmental factors such asthe culture and reception of the host society also shape the experiences of international students (Leong, 2015) . Some existing literatu

FAQs

What data sources does the study use to analyze international students?

The study uses population data from the official website of the International Institution of Education (IIE).

How are the results visualized in the paper?

The author transfers the IIE data into three maps using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to present a clearer view of distribution.

What key findings are reported about where international students come from and where they study?

The study reports that a larger proportion come from Asian countries, that California, New York, and Texas host the most international students, and that most universities enrolling them are located in the eastern United States.

Oct 15, 2026

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