Foreign Ph.D. Recipients in Science Stay in U.S. at Near-Record Levels

Despite the alarms being raised about brain drain, the percentage of foreign students who receive doctorates in science and engineering in the United States and who choose to stay in the country after graduation has climbed in recent years, according to a study by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and the National Science Foundation. Using tax records, the study found 67 percent of foreign students who earned their Ph.D. in 2005 were still in the country in 2007. The rate had dipped for 2003 graduates, a pattern than the study’s author attributes to a poor economy and security concerns following the September 11 terror attacks.