Members of racial and ethnic minority groups made up 28 percent of the graduate-student enrollment in American colleges and universities in 2006, a 2-percent increase from the year before and the biggest jump in six years, says a report just issued by the Council of Graduate Schools. The statistics involve students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Native Americans’ enrollment rose the most, 9 percent, according to the report, “Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 1996-2006.” Enrollments of African-American, Asian, and Hispanic students were up by 3 percent each. No growth was reported in the number of nonminority graduate students.

Ten years ago, the proportion of minority students in graduate schools was 19 percent, said Debra W. Stewart, president of the council.

The increases in minority enrollment are “really the good news in this report,” she said. “I think we can really begin to take some heart that at least we’re continuing to see progress here.”

According to the most recent annual Survey of Earned Doctorates, members of minority groups also made up a record-high proportion of U.S. citizens who earned doctoral degrees from American universities in 2006.

The increase in minority students, along with growth in the number of women and international students, helped raise the overall enrollment in the nation’s graduate schools by 2 percent in 2006. First-time enrollments of non-U.S. citizens rose by 10 percent, while first-time enrollment of domestic students fell by 1 percent.

If the United States is going to remain a competitor in the global economy, Ms. Stewart said, “it’s important for us to continue to attract international students, but at the end of the day we have to do a better job of developing and cultivating the success of our domestic students across all fields.”

The report is based on a survey to which 680 institutions responded. They enroll 74 percent of all graduate students in the United States and award three-fourths of the master’s degrees and nearly 90 percent of doctorates. —Audrey Williams June