Interesting graph from Global Higher Education

The applications for graduate study in the United States were way down after 9/11, and apparently did not recover during the Bush administration. Since there had been a long term trend of increasing applications and increasing enrollments, the Bush administration succeeded in creating an inflection point.

The foreign graduate students play an important role in improving appreciation for the United States in their home countries, opening up markets for American exports, and supporting technological innovation in the United States. They pay for their educations, and have helped to train other students at an affordable cost. They also help to reduce global problems, including the problems of global poverty while contributing to better governance.

Perhaps the Obama administration can return the United States education system to its decades long role as the world's most attractive source of international graduate education.