AMMAN – The number of Jordanian students enrolled at U.S. institutions across the United States has increased since 2017, growing by nearly 5% over last year’s number, according to an annual report released today by the Institute of International Education, with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Open Doors report for 2017/2018 shows that there were 2,420 Jordanians studying in U.S colleges and universities, during that most recent academic year for which data is available. The largest growth for Jordan was seen among undergraduates (8.1%), followed by graduate-level study at 5.0%.
This number, which does not include those students with Jordanian/American dual citizenship, represents a 4.67% increase from the 2016-2017 academic year. In another positive development, Jordan’s ranking moved up by one to 7th in the Middle East/North Africa region for the overall number of students in the United States. The total number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities surpassed one million for the third year in a row during the 2017-18 academic year—an increase of 1.5 percent from the previous year.
Conversely, there were about 735 American students at higher education institutions in Jordan this past academic year (2016/2017).
Full statistics from the report show:
Category |
Number of Students (2017) |
Number of Students (2018) |
(%) difference |
| Undergraduates | 914 | 988 | 8.1% |
| Graduates | 1,000 | 1050 | 5.0% |
| Non-Degree | 131 | 115 | -12.2% |
| OPT | 267 | 267 | 0.0% |
| Total | 2,312 | 2,420 | 4.7% |
Rank |
Country |
Number of Students (2018) |
(%) difference |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 44,432 | -15.5 |
| 2 | Iran | 12,783 | 1.1 |
| 3 | Kuwait | 10,190 | 3.7 |
| 4 | Egypt | 3,701 | -0.4 |
| 5 | Oman | 3,097 | 7.7 |
| 6 | UAE | 2,486 | -9.7 |
| 7 | Jordan | 2,420 | 4.7 |
| 8 | Israel | 2,327 | -2.8 |
| 9 | Lebanon | 1,633 | 4.9 |
| 10 | Morocco | 1,563 | -4.3 |
| 11 | Iraq | 1,438 | -15.3 |
| 12 | Qatar | 1,127 | -20.6 |
| 13 | Libya | 1,064 | -18.8 |
| 14 | Tunisia | 728 | 5.2 |
| 15 | Syria | 726 | -12.2 |
| 16 | Yemen | 517 | -21.4 |
| 17 | Palestinian Territories | 480 | 13.5 |
| 18 | Bahrain | 451 | -5.1 |
| 19 | Algeria | 212 | 10.4 |
For more information on studying in the United States, please contact the U.S. Embassy’s EducationUSA office at: studyusa-jordan@state.gov.
