Human Resource Contributions to U.S. Science and Engineering from China.

Human Resource Contributions to U.S. Science and Engineering from China (NSF 01-311); National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Studies, Arlington, Va; January 2001; Available at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs.

This Issue Brief reports trends in the flow of Chinese graduate students

From 1988 to 1998, Chinese students earned 7.5 percent of all S&E doctorates in U.S. universities--16,550 of 219,643. The highest percentage was in the natural sciences and engineering; Chinese students earned 13 percent of the physical science and 15 percent of the mathematics doctorates awarded during the period. Also for this period, about 85 percent (14,000) of Chinese S&E doctoral recipients planned to remain in the U.S., more than from any other country, and 48 percent (8,000) reported accepting firm offers to do so at the time of degree conferral.

Over 30 percent of 1988-96 Chinese doctoral recipients had firm plans to remain in the United States as post-doctorates in science or engineering. In all, more than 5,000 Chinese scientists and engineers were offered these appointments, by far the highest number from any country.

About 17 percent of new Chinese S&E doctoral recipients from U.S. universities received firm offers for other types of employment in the United States. These offers were concentrated in engineering (1,138), physical sciences (491), and mathematics (400). Most consisted of employment in R&D, mainly in industry.