The number of overseas students admitted to US graduate schools rose 8 per cent in 2007 compared with 2006, but the rate of increase slowed from 12 per cent last year, according to a study by the Council of Graduate Schools.
Nearly 30 per cent of schools had joint or dual degree programmes with international universities and a quarter planned to set up collaborative courses.
Business was the most common field for joint programmes, followed by engineering.
Despite the rise, 78 per cent of institutions responding to the survey had fewer international applicants than in 2003. International admissions in arts and humanities grew most at the ten universities with the largest international graduate population (36 per cent increase) compared with 5 per cent growth at the smaller institutions. However, the number of successful applicants from China shot up by 38 per cent at smaller institutions but by only 8 per cent at the largest.