American Universities See Decline in Foreigners Earning Science Doctorates

Doctorates earned by science and engineering students holding temporary visas fell to 12,217 in 2009, from 12,686 the year before, a likely reflection of factors that include tougher economic conditions worldwide, an NSF analyst said.

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The NSF data also showed drops in doctorates in several engineering fields, including electrical engineering, down 10 percent to 1,694, and chemical engineering, down 7 percent to 808. Universities issued a total of 7,634 engineering doctorates in 2009, down 3 percent from the previous year.

The overall increase in all categories of science and engineering doctorates issued in 2009 by American institutions was largely due to growth among women, up 5 percent to 13,593, the NSF reported. Men earned 19,849, a decline of five doctorates from their 2008 total.

http://chronicle.com/article/American-Universities-See/125564/

While these universities denied Americans these degrees and gave it to foreigners, the foreigners are now in a position to educate their own students. They don't need to come here anymore. It's great karma.

There was a big bulge of Chinese grad students in the '90s. Some went back to China and have set up labs in research universities there. Some stayed in the US and have labs in universities here. There are lots of collaborations going on. There is now a tendency for students to get PhDs in China and then come as post-docs or visiting faculty to the US labs. In many cases, this means that the US principle investigator doesn't have to pay them - they continue to get support from the Chinese university. There is lots of espionage involved in this arrangement.