Bell, N. E., Findings from the 2012 CGS international graduate admissions survey – phase I: Applications. Council of Graduate Schools, Washington DC, 2012. Pages: 22

In April 2012, the Council of Graduate Schools in the US published its annual report on projected international student admissions. The council collected data on more than 500 000 applications from universities that award a combined 60% of the total number of graduate degrees granted to foreign students. Researchers used preliminary data for this year, which will be updated in June 2012.

Some of the key findings included:

• Applications from China increased 18%, followed by Mexico (17%), Brazil (14%), Canada (9%), Europe (7%), the Middle East (6%), and India (2%).
• Applications from Africa dropped 5%, possibly due to the recent upheavals in Egypt and other parts of North Africa. Slight declines were also registered for Taiwan (‐2%) and South Korea (‐1%).
• The largest gains in terms of programmes occurred in education (17%), followed by engineering (12%), business (11%) and physical & earth sciences (10%).
• International students are much more likely to apply for doctoral programmes rather than master’s focused institutions.

Council of Graduate Schools