The number of students from Nigeria currently studying in the United States increased to 13,423 in the 2018/2019 academic session, a new report has said.
The number of international students in the US set an all‐time high in the 2018/19 academic year, the fourth consecutive year with more than one million international students, according to a statement on the website of the US Embassy & Consulate in Nigeria.
The total number of international students, 1,095,299, is a 0.05 percent increase over last year, according to the 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.
The new report indicated that there was a 5.8 per cent increase in the number of students from Nigeria currently studying in the US.
The statement said, “This percentage represents a total of 13,423 Nigerian students studying in the US in the 2018/2019 academic session. This number also represents 33 per cent of the overall African students in the US, making Nigeria the leading source of students from the continent and 11th largest country worldwide.
“Nigerians are enrolled in more than 1,000 institutions in 51 states and territories in the United States, out of which 18 per cent are studying in Texas. Nigerian students using EducationUSA services recorded $16m in scholarships and financial aid awarded to newly admitted students for the 2019 academic year.”
The Open Doors 2019 was released on Tuesday by the Institute of International Education and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
It highlighted the continued competitiveness of the US higher education sector as a destination of choice for international students and the growing interest in international educational exchange among US students, according to the statement.