The number of prospective international students applying to and enrolling in US postgraduate programmes has declined for the first time in 13 years, figures show. Applications from prospective overseas graduate students declined by 3 per cent between autumn 2016 and autumn 2017, while first-time enrolment of international graduate students dropped by 1 per cent, according to a survey by the Council of Graduate Schools.

The number of first-time international students enrolling in American graduate programs declined by 1 percent from fall 2016 to fall 2017, according to new survey results from the Council of Graduate Schools.

For the first time in more than a decade, applications and enrollments by international graduate students at American colleges and universities declined in 2016-17, a new study has found. The study, conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools, suggests a continued softening of interest in American institutions among foreign grad students, an ebbing that was noted a year ago.

US graduate programmes are starting to formalize expectations for the skills and competencies that PhD students should have by the end of their studies, finds a report from the US Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington DC. In a 2016 survey of its 241 member institutions, the CGS found that 65% of those responding reported that all or most of their doctoral programmes had developed formal ways to assess whether students are learning specific skills that are relevant to the workplace.

Samantha Hernandez was finishing up an argument for her dissertation about Latinos and affirmative action on Thursday when the emails started pouring in with the subject line “Congratulations.” President Trump had finished a celebratory news conference to announce the completion of a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s tax code, and graduate students were breathing a deep sigh of relief. House Republicans had targeted them for a hefty tax increase, one that many of them could not hope to pay, but they had escaped unscathed.

Graduate students across the country have loudly protested a controversial provision of the tax plans that moved through the House and Senate in recent weeks. The proposal would have significantly driven up the tax burdens for those who receive tuition waivers from their schools. They are often teaching and research assistants.

The GOP’s proposed update to the law governing higher education would force a U-turn for long-standing federal policies on graduate student lending. Students who pursue graduate degrees have been allowed to take out an unlimited amount in federal student loans since Congress authorized the Grad PLUS program in 2005. But the legislation proposed last week by Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House education committee, would cap annual borrowing amounts for grad students at $28,500 annually.

The Council of Graduate Schools Ph.D. Completion Project found 10-year Ph.D. completion rates to range around only 50 to 65 percent, depending on field. The project, which collected data on 29 institutions, discovered that the reasons people leave Ph.D. programs are complex, but that few students drop out because they are intellectually incapable of doing the work. Stress, lack of financial support and problematic relationships with faculty members are among the factors cited to explain the remarkable rate at which students who have successfully completed other educational challenges leave graduate school.

Graduate students around the U.S. are staging campus walk-outs and lobbying Congress in an effort to keep their tuition waivers tax-free. They have the support of their schools in arguing that a provision in the House Republican tax bill could, as graduate student Shawn Rhoads says, “upend the American Ph.D. system.”

Many Ph.D. students studying science, technology, engineering and math receive tuition waivers. That means their tuition is covered, and that money isn't taxed as long as the student does research or teaches for the university.