Foreign Participation in U.S. Science and Engineering Higher Education and Labor Markets. Special Report

Information is presented on foreign graduate students, foreign science and engineering (S/E) students in master's-granting institutions. The impact of these foreign graduates in the U.S. labor force is also assessed. The data were obtained from the National Science Foundation-conducted graduate science students and postdoctorates survey of academic deans and department heads and the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates. Findings include the following: the foreign share of all full-time S/E graduate students in doctorate-granting institutions increased in almost all S/E fields between 1974 and 1979, but the growth was most dramatic in engineering and mathematical/computer sciences; in engineering, foreign citizens constituted almost one-half of the graduating doctorates; if present trends continue throughout the 1980s, as much as one-sixth of the 1990 U.S. doctorate engineering labor force might be foreign citizens; in the field of agricultural science, almost all foreign doctorate recipients hold temporary visas, which indicates foreign countries' interest in high-technology training; foreign citizens with temporary visas received at least 20 percent of the S/E doctorates awarded in 1979, largely the fields of engineering and physical, mathematical, and agricultural sciences; about one-half of the foreign S/E postdoctorates held positions in the life sciences; and over one-half of the foreign students receiving S/E doctorates in the 1970s were from the Middle East and Asia. Technical notes and questionnaires are appended. (SW)