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Facts about educational attainment of Asian immigrants

On Advanced Placement, about 54% of Asian students in grades 10–12 took an AP exam in 2025, compared with 20% of white students, 19% of Latino students, and 12% of Black students. 93% of Asian students attend high schools offering five or more AP courses, versus 76% of white, 82% of Hispanic, 75% of Black, and just 49% of Native American students. India is the Asian country with the highest educational attainment. Among first generation Indian immigrants 43% have a post-graduate degree, compared to 24% for all Asian Americans and 13% for all Americans. Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean immigration … Continue reading Facts about educational attainment of Asian immigrants

Education in Mexico and the proclivity to migrate to the United States

The desire of Mexicans wanting to emigrate stands at about 20% of the population. That share is not greatly different from many other countries. But the share of Mexican workforce age working residing outside Mexica is high – 10%, of which almost all in the United States. Mexico is part of the American basin of workers, mostly with little formal education. It’s unclear whether improvement in education status translates into lower propensity to emigrate. Costa Rica’s high school graduation rate (60%) is higher than Mexico’s (40%) but Costa Ricans are more inclined to emigrate. That said, a look at progress … Continue reading Education in Mexico and the proclivity to migrate to the United States

Education and age disparities between foreign-born and U.S. born

J.D. Vance has argued that immigration has worked to the disadvantage of American workers. This argument can be easily made with respect to the wave of Latin American immigrants between the 1980s and the financial crisis of 2007-2008. A very high percentage neither had a high school degree nor spoke English proficiently. This created a very vulnerable workforce of perhaps 8 million workers. The argument weakens significantly with respect to more recent immigration. I cannot find overall figures of the educational status of immigrants by date of immigration. But with the shift of most migration coming from Latin America to … Continue reading Education and age disparities between foreign-born and U.S. born

STEM graduate education foreign students/faculty, and indirect costs

The Trump Administration’s slashing of indirect costs for federal grants for university-based research to a maximum of 15% may especially threaten STEM research and academic departments. It may drive many foreign-born research and faculty in STEM to go to another country. About 45% of STEM Masters and 46% of STEM PhDs awarded by US institutions go to international students on temporary visas. 29% of full-time science and engineering faculty in U.S. universities are foreign-born. 49% of U.S.-trained postdocs were born overseas. Steve Hsu (@hsu_steve) writes on X: The [indirect cost] cuts will harm overall university budgets, but the main harm … Continue reading STEM graduate education foreign students/faculty, and indirect costs

Immigrant parents have higher educational expectations for their children

A study done in 2016 sought to compare the K-12 education experience of children of foreign-born parents with children of U.S. born parents. The base line economic profile of these households shows that immigrant households overall have lower economic status (though there is the hour glass effect of relatively many immigrant households with little formal education and at the other end a concentration of highly educated immigrants). The proportion enrolled in charter schools was twice as large among students of immigrant parents as among those with native parents: 12% versus 6%. On the other hand, the proportion enrolled in private … Continue reading Immigrant parents have higher educational expectations for their children

Higher education: the white advantage as declined and will continue to do so.

The annual wage between four-year college degree holders and others was about $20,000 in 2000 and $35,000 in 2020. When a group in American society increases its attendance at four-year college, it is not only increasing its average household income but also potentially gaining a larger share of the total college educated population. In 2000, some 45 million persons 25 and older had a four-year college degree. In 2020 about 90 million had a four-year college degree. During these 20 years, the non-white population grew faster than whites and they were increasingly attending four-year college. Thus, over these 20 years, … Continue reading Higher education: the white advantage as declined and will continue to do so.

Global higher education quality, migration and innovation

I have posted on global talent pool, and the role of the U.S. as a – the -premier concentration of higher education in the world, notwithstanding the rise in higher education in the developing nations, and the high production of STEM graduates in China. My postings include here, here and here. I refer to Australia’s higher education network as an export industry. Here is a projection of the number of college graduates in the world through 2050. Now there is a comprehensive analysis of highed ed quality in the world. Researchers here measured college graduate quality—the average human capital of a … Continue reading Global higher education quality, migration and innovation

More on the Asian higher education phenomenon

Many more Asians, first and later generations, now than in 2000, and far better educated than other groups. The Asian population in the U.S. rose from 3.9 million in 1980 to 11.9 million in 2000, to 22.4 million in 2019. That’s a rise from 1.7% to 7% of the entire population. In 1970, Asian immigrants made up just 12% of the foreign-born population, compared to over 30% in 2019. Asian Americans have the highest educational attainment of any racial group. In 2019, 54% of Asian Americans aged 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 36% of … Continue reading More on the Asian higher education phenomenon

U.S. vs foreign born compared by education level

I’ve been looking for this for some time – the shares of 25 + year old persons, U.S. born and foreign born, by educational level. I found data here, then estimated the two populations for 25 or older. The results are inexact, but confirm that which we knew: a disproportionate share of adults with less than high school education are foreign born. The table, however, does not reveal that in the past 10 or so years, recent immigrants are much more formally educated than earlier arriving immigrants. This shift reflects how the dominant type of immigrant 1980 – 2005 was … Continue reading U.S. vs foreign born compared by education level

Australia’s educational system as an export industry

From a 2018 article (here): Australia has managed to turn immigration into an export industry. After minerals, Australia’s largest “export” may well be educational services, represented by tuition fees paid by international students studying in Australia. It is an open secret that most of these students view an Australian degree as a back door to permanent residency. In effect, Australian universities are selling more than just a quality education. They are selling the hope of a permanent resident visa along with it. As a result, Australia, with a population of about 25 million, is ranked fourth in the world for … Continue reading Australia’s educational system as an export industry