Washington: The number of Indian students studying at U.S. colleges and universities jumped 20 percent since July this year, with more than 1.8 lakh Indian students currently studying in the country, according to an official report.

There are currently 1.2 million international students in the U.S. with students from China topping the list followed by India and South Korea, according to the report released yesterday.

As of November 2015 there were 181,051 Indian students studying in various American educational institutions - an increase of 20.7 percent than the previous report of July 2015. This is primarily because of the new academic session that begins in August-September.

As per the report by Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), 77percent of all international students were from Asia.

China which still has the largest number of students had 360,091 students studying in the U.S.. However, it witnessed an increase of less than 5percent from the July 2015 figures. South Korea ranks third with 81,599 students followed by Saudi Arabia with 77,486 students.

According to official data available till November 5, 2015, there are 1.2 million international students using an F (academic) or M (vocational) visa to study in the United States said the report released by Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), a program within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

84percent of all F&M STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) students from India study in programs for computer and information sciences and support services, and engineering.

The report, highlights November 2015 data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a Web-based system that includes information about international students, exchange visitors and their dependents while they are in the United States.

The report said the total number of active F&M students studying in the United States increased by 13.3percent, from 1,054,505 students in July 2015 to 1,194,780 in November 2015.

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