The number of science and engineering (S&E) graduate students at U.S. academic institutions rose by 3% between 2013 and 2014, owing largely to a 13.1% increase in foreign graduate enrollment.

According to a new report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), in 2014 a total of 587,161 students were enrolled in S&E masters or doctorate programs, up from 570,300 the previous year.

There was also an influx of nearly 25,000 additional S&E graduate students on temporary visas over the same period, bringing foreign enrollment to 213,783. The increase in foreign students overshadowed a 2.1% decline in domestic graduate enrollment, which fell from 381,225 in 2013 to 373,378 in 2014.

Foreign graduate enrollment in U.S. S&E programs grew 13.1% in 2014. Image credit: Pixabay.The report also shows a continuing trend of full-time graduate students shifting from federal sources of financial support to self-support. Since 2009, the number of students receiving federal support declined from 19% to 15.7%, including a 5.3% decline of 3,895 fewer students between 2013 and 2014.

Institutional support, meanwhile, has remained stable since 2009: approximately 40.2% of students received institutional support, even with growing graduate enrollment.

Other findings in the report include:

· A rise in enrollment in computer sciences and electrical engineering continued, with computer sciences increasing by 22.1% and electrical engineering by 9.9% from 2013 to 2014.

· Graduate enrollment in most engineering fields has risen by at least 20% over the past five years.