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Datapoint

How many international students earn psychology research doctorates in the U.S.?

The percentage of international students in psychology has doubled

By Peggy Christidis, PhD, Luona Lin, MPP, and Karen Stamm, PhD

June 2018, Vol 49, No. 6

Print version: page 21

1 min read

APA Style leaf logo Cite This Article in APA Style
Christidis, P., Lin, L., & Stamm, K. (2018, June 1). Datapoint: How many international students earn psychology research doctorates in the U. S. ? Monitor on Psychology, 49(6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/06/datapoint

  • In 2016, 30 percent of all science and engineering doctorate recipients at U.S. universities were international students with temporary visas.1
  • In the past 20 years, the percentage of international students in psychology has doubled. In 1997, approximately 127 psychology research doctorate recipients, or 3.6 percent, were temporary visa holders. By 2016, that number more than doubled to 306, or 7.8 percent of psychology doctorate recipients.2
  • In 2016, 55 percent of all international students with new psychology research doctorates had definite postgraduate commitments. For those with definite commitments, 29 percent had work commitments abroad and 71 percent had commitments within the United States.
  • About 62 percent of these international students with U.S. commitments had postdoctoral study positions, followed by academic employment (27 percent), industry employment (7 percent) and other commitments (4 percent).3

Source: National Science Foundation, Survey of Earned Doctorates

Want more information? See CWS’s interactive data tools at www.apa.org/workforce/data-tools/index.aspx or contact cws@apa.org.

Footnotes

1National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (1997–2016). “Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities.” Retrieved from www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctorates. 

2A research doctorate requires the completion of a dissertation or equivalent project and is not primarily intended for the practice of a profession. The number of international students was based on the number of temporary visa holders. A temporary visa is obtained by a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States for a designated amount of time, with the intention of ultimately returning to their home country. 

3For information on postgraduate commitments of psychology doctorate recipients who are U.S. citizens and permanent residents, see www.apa.org/monitor/2016/04/datapoint.aspx.

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