調查顯示赴美外國留學生人數下滑

The first new college class since the election of Donald J. Trump has arrived on campus, and new numbers confirm what the higher education industry had feared: Fewer foreign students are coming to the United States.

唐納德·特朗普當選總統後的第一批大學新生到校了，新的數據證實了高等教育產業的擔憂：赴美外國留學生數量下滑。

The number of newly arriving international students declined an average 7 percent in fall 2017, with 45 percent of campuses reporting drops in new international enrollment, according to a survey of nearly 500 campuses across the country by the Institute of International Education.

根據國際教育協會(Institute of International Education)對全美近500所高校的調查數據，2017年秋季新入學的國際學生數量減少了7%，有45%的高校反映新入學的國際學生數量出現下降。

Experts cited an uncertain social and political climate in the United States as part of the reason for the decline in enrollment.

專家提出，美國社會和政治環境的不確定性是入學人數下降的原因之一。

“It’s a mix of factors,” said Rajika Bhandari, head of research for the institute, which collects data on international students in cooperation with the State Department. “Concerns around the travel ban had a lot to do with concerns around personal safety based on a few incidents involving international students, and a generalized concern about whether they’re safe.”

“這是多種因素的結合，”該協會的研究負責人拉吉卡·班達裏(Rajika Bhandari)表示，該協會與美國國務院協作收集國際學生數據。“由於發生了幾起涉及國際學生的事件，人們對旅行禁令的擔憂很大程度上是對人身安全的擔憂，也有對自己是否安全的一種普遍擔憂。”

Another reason for the decline is increasing competition from countries like Canada, Britain and Australia, said Allan E. Goodman, president of the institute.

數據下滑的另一個原因是來自加拿大、英國、澳大利亞的競爭在不斷加強，國際教育協會主席艾倫·E·古德曼(Allan E. Goodman)說道。

The figures released Monday also included final numbers for 2016-2017, which show robust international enrollment, with a record 1.08 million international students in the United States, an increase of 85 percent from a decade earlier.

週一發佈的數據還包含了2016-2017年的最終數據，它們顯示國際學生入學人數增長穩健，美國的國際生數量達到創紀錄的108萬人，比10年前增長了85%。

Much of the record was driven by 175,000 students who have remained in the United States after completing their degrees, in internship-type programs known as “optional practical training.”

增長主要來自在畢業後選擇留在美國參加“選擇性實習”(Optional Practical Training)項目的17.5萬名學生。

The 2016-2017 figures, though, revealed that first-time international students dropped 3 percent, indicating that the decline had begun before President Trump took office.

但2016-2017的數據顯示，國際學生已首次出現3%的下滑。這意味着在特朗普上臺之前就已經開始下降。

The drop in new students signals potential financial difficulties for some small universities that have come to rely on money from foreign students, who provide an infusion of $39 billion into the United States economy each year.

新入學學生的下降，預示着一些依靠外國學生、規模不大的高校有可能出現財政困難。外國學生每年爲美國經濟貢獻390億美元（約合2600億人民幣）。

Particularly hard hit are campuses in the Midwest, according to the institute.

該機構表示，中西部的高校受到的打擊尤其嚴重。

At the University of Iowa, overall international enrollment this fall was 3,564, down from 4,100 in 2015.

艾奧瓦大學(University of Iowa)今年秋季國際學生入學總數從2015年的4100人降爲3564人。

Downing Thomas, the university’s dean of international programs, said that some other schools in the Big Ten are also experiencing declines, and none are seeing the rapid increases of the recent past.

艾奧瓦大學國際項目主任唐寧·托馬斯(Downing Thomas)表示，十大聯盟(Big Ten)中的其他高校也遭遇了人數下降，沒有一所學校還有不久前的那種快速增長。

While Iowa primarily lost Chinese students, the University of Central Missouri experienced a sharp decline this year in students from India, said Mike Godard, vice provost for enrollment management.

艾奧瓦大學減少的主要是中國學生，而中密蘇里大學(University of Central Missouri)負責招生工作的副教務長麥克·戈達德(Mike Godard)表示，該校今年的印度學生數量驟降。

In the fall of 2016, the Warrensburg, Mo., university had 2,638 international students. This fall it has 944.

2016年秋，中密蘇里大學有2638名國際學生。今年秋季只有944名。

Dr. Godard said fewer students came from India partly because of a currency crisis in the country, but also because of concerns about the Trump administration’s travel ban affecting Muslim countries. India was not on that list, but Dr. Godard said many of the university’s Indian students were from Muslim areas of the country and were concerned about the ban.

戈達表示印度留學生減少的部分原因在於印度的貨幣危機，但也出於對特朗普政府涉及穆斯林國家的旅行禁令的擔憂。印度不在旅行禁令的國家名單上，但戈達德說，學校的許多印度學生都來自印度穆斯林地區，對禁令感到擔憂。

“Although India wasn’t listed as one of the countries, certainly feeling welcome and safe and all those things is important,” he said. “It would be na?ve to say that wasn’t a contributing factor.”

“儘管印度不在旅行禁令的國家名單上，但讓他們感到受歡迎、感到安全等那些事情上都非常重要。”他說，“如果說這不是其中的原因，那也太天真了。”

Prospective students from India — interviewed shortly after last year’s presidential election — have expressed fears about the racial climate in the United States, concerns that might have been heightened after the shooting death in February of an Indian engineer in a suburban Kansas City bar.

來自印度的預備學生——在總統大選後不久進行面試的學生——表達了對美國種族大環境的擔憂。在今年二月一名印度工程師在堪薩斯城郊外酒吧被射殺後，人們的擔憂更甚。

A breakdown of declines by country was not yet available for fall 2017.

對2017年秋各國留學生下滑情況的分析尚未公佈。

In fall 2016, the sharpest drops nationally from a year earlier involved students from Brazil and Saudi Arabia, which cut back on funding international scholarships.

截至2016年秋，從一年前開始留學生人數下滑最厲害的國家是巴西和沙特阿拉伯，兩國削減了國際獎學金經費。