international students are returning to us colleges in stronger numbers this year but the rebound has yet to make up for last years historic declines as covid19 continues to disrupt academic exchange according to a new surveynationwide american colleges and universities saw a 4 annual increase in international students this fall according to survey results released monday by the institute of international education but that follows a decrease of 15 last year the steepest decline since the institute began publishing data in 1948the upturn is better than many colleges were forecasting over the summer as the delta variant surged but it also reflects continued obstacles as visa backlogs persist and as some students show reluctance to study abroad during the pandemicuniversities and us officials hope this years uptick is the start of a longterm rebound as international travel ramps up theres optimism that colleges will see growth past their prepandemic levelswe expect a surge following the pandemic matthew lussenhop an acting us assistant secretary of state told reporters this years increase indicates that international students continue to value a us education and remain committed to pursuing studies in the united states he addedoverall 70 of us colleges reported an uptick in international students this fall while 20 saw decreases and 10 remained level according to the institute thats based on a preliminary survey of more than 800 us schools the nonprofit plans to issue full nationwide data next yearat least some of the increase is due to new students who hoped to come to the us last year but delayed their plans because of the pandemic all told there was a 68 increase in newly enrolled international students this year a dramatic increase compared with last years decrease of 46for many schools even a modest upturn is a relief over the summer officials at us universities worried that the delta variant would dash any hopes of a rebound but for many that did not come to passin august us embassies and consulates in india reported that they had recently issued visas to a record 55000 students even after starting the process two months late because of covid19 embassies in china reported that they had issued 85000 student visasat the university of illinois at urbanachampaign more than 10000 international students enrolled this fall which nearly offsets a 28 decline from last yearwhat were seeing now is a return to normal for our international populations said andy borst director of undergraduate admissions at the university the rebound is fueled by new undergraduates with those from india up nearly 70 over prepandemic levelswe just had this pentup demand borst said a lot of big ten schools saw increases beyond what we were expectingat some schools with big brands overseas enrollments rebounded past their 2019 figures more than 17000 international students enrolled at new york university this fall up 14 over 2019 according to school dataat the university of rochester another top destination for international students in new york enrollments from abroad surged