An increase in the number of international students from India has been instrumental in Arizona State University achieving record-breaking enrollment rates for the fall 2023 semester.
Of the 68,840 first-year applications received, the university admitted 90% of the student applicants for the fall 2023 semester. Of this large applicant pool, 10,608 students were admitted to ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.
According to ASU’s official website, the number of international students, particularly those from India, participating in Optional Practical Training (OPT) has also seen a significant rise.
Optional Practical Training is an employment program in the U.S. offered to international students with an F-1 visa status — students who qualify for OPT gain 12 months of off-campus work experience in their field of study.
A vast alumni network of Indian international students can be traced back to the consecutive increase in international students from India choosing ASU for their academic pursuits.
Aakash Mathur, who recently graduated from ASU, said he had heard so much about the American university from his friends and family that he was convinced he would attend after high school.
“I decided to study at ASU because of how highly its engineering programs were rated. My older brother, a cousin and also an uncle of mine studied engineering here, so I guess it is sort of a family tradition,” Mathur said.
In the fall of 2014, the international campus-based enrollment was 8,787 students, mainly from China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Kuwait, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and India.
According to the office of the University Provost’s website, the number of on-campus international students registered during the fall 2023 semester had risen to more than 15,100.
According to ASU’s official website, the international campus-based enrollment of Indian international students was 4,067 during the fall 2021 semester, while in fall 2022, the number was more than 6,600.
In 2021, India was the top country of origin for international students to graduate from ASU. The alumni network of Indian students at ASU exceeds 13,700 in the past 10 years.
More than 13,500 Indian students have participated in OPT since 2017 and have landed jobs at leading corporations such as Amazon, Intel, Google and Tesla, according to the university’s statistics report.
The multiple on-campus residential projects undertaken by the university are a consequence of the increase in the number of students enrolling each semester.
ASU also has academic partnerships with 11 universities in India which, according to the university’s news page, could also be one of the many reasons for the growing popularity of the American university among Indian students.
Aman Singh, a Computer Engineering major at ASU, said there is an overlap between the university’s top programs and the choice of majors of most Indian students, which might explain why a growing number of Indian students are enrolled at ASU.
“Most of us tend to do STEM programs, and the university’s top ratings are for degrees in fields like engineering, computer science and the like. I also think the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology could also be why there are so many Indian students at ASU,” Singh said.
The enrollment figures suggest the university is committed to its charter and expects to set another enrollment record for the fall 2024 semester.
