Number of Bangladeshi students on the rise in United States

Bangladesh has become one of the top 25 countries sending students to the United States, according to the embassy in Dhaka.

The number of students from Bangladesh in the United States increased by 9.7 percent to 7,143 during the last school year, beating the international average increase of 3.4 percent, according to the 2017 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.

Bangladesh now ranks ninth in the world for the number of students studying at the graduate level in the United States.

The number of Bangladeshi students studying in the US has increased by 53.5 percent over the past five years.

Ambassador Marcia Bernicat and the US Embassy’s EducationUSA team hosted Bangladeshi students for the 2018 EducationUSA Pre-Departure Orientation at the American Center on Thursday.

“You represent Bangladesh’s best and brightest,” the ambassador said, highlighting the rigorous process of the US institutions for allowing students.

Through these students, she said, many of the Americans would know Bangladesh.

“You will represent Bangladesh. You will meet many who never met anyone from Bangladesh.”

For the past two years, US colleges and universities hosted more than one million international students, reaching a record high of 1.08 million this school year.

This also marks the 11th consecutive year of continued expansion of the total number of international students in US higher education.

In Bangladesh, EducationUSA advising services and reference materials are available at locations across the country, including the American Center at the US Embassy Dhaka in Baridhara, the Edward M Kennedy Center for Public Service and the Arts in Dhanmondi, and the American Corner in Chattogram.

Trained advisors lead group information sessions and provide individual counselling services to students and parents in those centres.

EducationUSA reference libraries and remote advising are accessible at the American Corners in Sylhet, Khulna, and Rajshahi.