According to the survey by Council of Graduate Schools, Washington, student's applications from China and the Middle East have increased for the admission to US graduate Programmes while the number of applications from India and South Korean have fallen. The council, which represents more than 500 higher-education institutions in the US and Canada, said foreigners' applications for 2009  graduate-school admissions rose four percent from the year before. But Foreigners' applications to doctoral programmes rose five percent, but have declined 17 percent for master's degrees. The council survey of US institutions, showed growth of applications from China along with the Middle East and Turkey, up to 16 percent and 20 percent from 2008, respectively. But, the survey noted, describing the fall of applications from India and South Korea as a "potentially troubling sign".The relative large decline in applications for students from these two countries in this year's survey seems likely that first-time enrolment of students from India and South Korea will decline again in 2009.

If the trend persists, it will mean a subtle but significant change on US campuses, which rely on foreign students to fill their seats, particularly in departments such as science and technology. The Council president admits that the global economy is really impacting students' ability to come to the United States as students are finding difficult to borrow money. But the reason for increase in Foreigners' applications to doctoral programmes , is which typically offers stipends and assistance, which would be luring more students than master's programmes. 

According to research from both the Council of Graduate Schools and the Institute of International Education, collectively, students from India, China, South Korea account for about one-half of all non-US citizens on temporary visas attending US graduate schools. International graduate applications dropped four percent between 2008 and 2009. This pattern held true for students applying from China and India, and held true for prospective students applying to programmes in all broad fields except for business.