Latin America eyes U.S. colleges

(Photo: Marco Ugarte AP)

Here’s some good news for Latin America: after decades of relative academic isolation, the region’s two biggest countries — Brazil and Mexico — are dramatically increasing their numbers of students attending U.S. universities.

New data from the Institute of International Education’s “Open Doors” report show that Latin America is the world’s fastest-growing region in the flow of students to U.S. colleges. While the region is still way behind China and India in its numbers of students at U.S. colleges, it is beginning to catch up.

China alone had 304, 000 students in U.S. colleges this year, and India 133, 000. By comparison, all Latin America and Caribbean countries together had 86, 000 students in U.S. colleges, according to the IIE report.

The numbers of Latin Americans studying in U.S. colleges is beginning to rise, however, thanks to dramatic increases in the numbers of Brazilian and Mexican students. Both Brazil and Mexico have recently started ambitious government scholarship programs to send tens of thousands of students to U.S. and European universities. Their programs are beginning to show results.

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