Physics Students From Abroad in the Post-9/11 Era

Highlights

After decades of steady increases to a peak of 55% in 2000-01, the population of foreign students entering graduate physics programs has declined noticeably in the past two years (Figure 1).
In the past year, two-thirds of the PhD-granting departments, and almost half of the Masters departments, report that they have accepted foreign students who were unable to attend because of visa difficulties (Table 1).
Overall, it appears that about 20% of admitted foreign students were at least initially prevented from attending in the fall of 2002. The highest-ranked PhD departments were least affected, but smaller PhD and Masters departments experienced a substantial enrollment impact (Table 1).
In numerical terms, Chinese students were by far the group most commonly denied entrance. Even in percentage terms, Chinese, along with middle eastern students, felt the greatest impact.
Many departments report major effects on course enrollments, and on their ability to fill openings for RA’s and especially TA’s (Figure 2).
Most departments are maintaining their current admissions policies for now, with only a few reporting major changes in their stance on accepting students from abroad