More Foreign Students Enrolling at U.S. Colleges

America’s global trade in higher education is brisk these days, with more U.S. college students taking courses abroad and more foreign students--nearly half a million--enrolled in this country, according to an annual survey released Monday.

The Institute of International Education’s findings reflect the interlacing of the world’s economies and the eagerness of students here and abroad to tap it, said Peggy Blumenthal, who supervises the institute’s research.

In the 1997-98 school year, nearly 114,000 Americans earned college credits abroad, 15% more than the year before and the most since the institute first tracked the trend in 1985-86, the survey found.

And in 1998-99, there were 491,000 foreign students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities--up 2% from the year before and a record since the institute first counted foreign enrollment in 1949.