US colleges add fewer new international students for second-straight year

New international student enrollment fell 6.6% from the 2016-17 to the 2017-18 academic years, according to recent data from the Institute of International Education. The decline, which follows a 3% drop from 2015-16 to 2016-17, could indicate a growing disinterest in U.S. higher education among foreign students. Before the decline, new international student enrollment had seen a decade of steady growth.Meanwhile, U.S. colleges had a record level of international enrollment for the 2017-18 academic year, with a year-over-year increase of 1.5% to more than 1 million students. However, this is the group's smallest annual gain in more than a decade.The U.S. had moderate annual increases in the number of international students from China and India, rising by 3.6% and 5.4%, respectively. Some countries had steep declines, with Saudi Arabia sending 15.5% fewer students to the U.S. than during the previous academic year.