NSF PR 98-81 - December 1, 1998
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More Foreign-Born S&E Doctoral Recipients Stay,
Because the United States Is "Where the Jobs Are"
Foreign-born students who earn science and engineering
(S&E) doctoral degrees from U. S. academic institutions
are staying here in greater numbers, according to
a new special report by the National Science Foundation
(NSF)'s Division of Science Resources Studies (SRS).
The report, Statistical Profiles of Foreign Doctoral
Recipients in Science and Engineering: Plans to Stay
in the United States, says 63 percent of foreign-born
students who earned S&E doctorates from U.S. institutions
between 1988 and 1996 said they planned to locate
here, compared to 50 percent or less of those previously
studied. Two-thirds of those who planned to stay had
firm plans for further study or employment.
Study author Jean Johnson said the number of U.S. science
and engineering doctoral degrees earned by natives
of Asia, Europe and North America grew from about
3,300 in 1988 to 8,000 in 1996 - for a total of more
than 55,000 during that period.
The number and percentage of U.S. science and engineering
doctoral degree recipients from Asia, Europe and North
America with plans to stay in the United States increased
from 1,700 (51 percent of all recipients) in 1988
to 5,800 (73 percent) in 1996. For the entire period,
63 percent said they planned to stay.
Johnson attributed the increase to the strength of
the U.S. economy and its "capacity to absorb 39 percent
of the foreign-born students in its S&E workforce.
Foreign-born recipients of S&E doctoral degrees from
U.S. institutions are staying here because the United
States is where the jobs are," she said.
Most firm offers to foreign-born doctorate holding
S&E professionals were for postdoctoral assignments,
followed by offers from industry and educational institutions.
In industry, the largest numbers of job offers were
in engineering, followed by physical sciences and
computer sciences. Educational institutions offered
the most jobs to students with degrees in psychology
and social sciences, followed by engineering and mathematics.
Asian students by far represented the highest percentage
of S&E doctoral degree recipients (43,171 of 55,444)
and of recipients planning to stay here (28,280 of
34,917). Overall, 65.5 percent of Asians who received
S&E doctoral degrees said they planned to stay in
the U.S., compared with 55.9 percent (4,898 of 8,760)
of European recipients and 49.5 percent (1,739 of
3,513) of those born in other North American countries.
The number of native Chinese S&E doctoral recipients
remaining in the U.S. has stayed high since the Chinese
Student Protection Act gave permanent resident status
to those studying in U.S. institutions in 1992, said
Johnson. She noted that China's educational and research
and development systems are recruiting about 600 new
science and engineering Ph.D.s over the next few years
- while 2,000 Chinese natives are earning Ph.D.s in
the U.S. each year in these fields.
The percentage of doctoral recipients from Korea and
Taiwan who planned to stay in the U.S. was only about
half that of those from China and India. Johnson said
that was because the economic growth in South Korea
and Taiwan between 1988 and 1996 enabled those nations
to absorb more U.S.-trained doctoral scientists and
engineers.
"Whether this trend continues following the Asian economic
crisis of 1998 should be monitored," Johnson said,
"as should the stay rate of all foreign doctoral recipients.
It has implications for the U.S. economy and the concentration
of scientists and engineers in the United States as
well as on the economies of their native countries."
For the full Special Report see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf99304/start.htm
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