Asian/Nonresident Inaccuracies

In accordance with guidelines set forth by the Education Department, this year's survey attempts to separate nonresident aliens from the ethnic breakdown. Although the survey had asked departments not to classify nonresidents under any ethnic category, many departments did not follow these instructions, especially when classifying Asians and Pacific Islanders.

A close look at the raw data reveals many departments with more than 50 Asian graduate students but no nonresident aliens reported. We find this data suspect. When calling back a few of these departments, we found that an error was usually made and that most of their Asian Ph.D.s and graduate students were nonresidents.

Hence, the number of Asian Ph.D.s and graduate students who permanently reside in North America is likely to be substantially less than the statistics indicate, while the number of nonresidents is likely to be correspondingly greater.

The reasons behind this approach are political and practical. Issues of minority representation usually are framed within the political and legal context of North America, where certain ethnic categories tend to be less represented than others. While the ethnicity of foreign students may be of some interest, it is not as critical simply because most foreign students return to their home countries where they are a part of a majority ethnic group and where the issues of representation are dissimilar to those of North America.

The practical reason for distinguishing nonresidents is that it allows us to compare our data with data kept by the Education Department, which may prove useful in determining historical trends.