New Delhi: More than 3.3 lakh Indians are studying in the US, making India the “top sender” of international students to America for the first time in 15 years, as it overtook China for the academic year 2023-24.

According to the Open Doors Report 2024 released on Monday, the number of Indian students studying in the US in the academic year 2023-24 is at an “all-time high” at 3,31,602, a rise of 23 per cent from 2022-23 when the number stood at 2,68,923.

The year before in 2022-23, the leading source country for international students in the US was China followed by India.

“India is now the leading country of origin for international students in the United States, accounting for 29 per cent of the total international student population,” according to a note shared by the US Embassy on the latest annual report.

According to official data associated with the latest report, the top five source countries for international students in the US for 2023-24 are — India, China (2,77,398), South Korea (43,149), Canada (28,998) and Taiwan (23,157).

“India is the top sender of international students (for the first time since 2008/2009) with over 3,31,602 students studying in the United States. The number of Indian students is at an all-time high,” the US Embassy’s note read.

Normally, the academic year in the US begins in September and runs through May.

In 2023-24, the US welcomed an all-time high of 1.12 million (1,126,690) international students. These students hail from more than 210 countries and places of origin, the note added.

US envoy Eric Garcetti, in an exclusive interview to PTI on the sidelines of an event at the American Center here spoke of the education cooperation between the two countries.

“We are friends, we have aligned hearts, we look at the world similarly, and now this is reflected in education. And, Indians are the number one source of international students to United States universities… We have seen an increase of 50 per cent just in the last two years,” he added.

This year’s report also shows a 300 per cent increase in American students choosing India as a study-abroad destination. The number of Americans studying in India rose from 300 to 1,300 in 2022-2023.

India also “remained the largest sender” of international graduate (masters and PhD level) students in the US for the second year. The number of Indian graduate students increased by 19 per cent to reach 1,96,567, according to the report.

The number of undergraduate students from India also increased by 13 per cent to 36,053 while the number of non-degree students experienced a 28 per cent decline to 1,426 students, it said.

The release of the Open Doors Report marked the beginning of International Education Week (IEW), which celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

The event, attended by several faculty members of various academic schools of the Johns Hopkins University and its president, Ronald J Daniels, was held to announce the launch of the ‘Women in STEMM Fellowship’.

The partnership between John Hopkins University Gupta-Klinsky India Institute and the US-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment aims at supporting and empowering early-career women scientists and researchers in India to become leaders in their STEMM (‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine’) fields.

Baltimore-based JHU, founded in 1876 in Maryland in the US, is America’s first research university and home to several world-class academic divisions working together as one university.

“At Johns Hopkins University, we believe that empowering women in STEMM is essential for advancing global innovation. The ‘Women in STEMM Fellowship’, launched in partnership with the US State Department, is designed to help Indian women scientists gain critical research skills, access mentors, and connect with global networks. This fellowship addresses the barriers that often limit women’s progress in these fields by providing the support, training, and resources they need to start and sustain their research careers,” Daniels was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the embassy here.

The US Mission to India celebrates its support for US-India education collaboration from primary school to careers, working to increase women’s formal inclusion in the workforce and formal economy, the statement said.

“Johns Hopkins University, which is one of our partners in advancing women entrepreneurship and excellence, we see the opportunity to bring 40 women who are going to study STEMM — science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine — at a great university at a graduate school level, and be able to bring those degrees, those lessons back here, fully paid for by the largesse of the university,” Garcetti told PTI.

“By the way, Johns Hopkins University is just one university, but we see more and more universities, not just accepting great Indian students, but also helping to subsidise and give them scholarships and financial aid so that Indian students don’t just have to come from wealthy families to be able to study in the US, and I think it’s a great example of how this partnership is really good for everyone,” he said.

The fellowship aims to foster meaningful research besides granting a degree, he added.