Data Sources & Methodology

IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System)

IPEDS is the primary federal database for higher education statistics. Every Title IV institution reports annually. We use four IPEDS surveys:

• Completions (C): Degrees awarded by institution, field (CIP code), award level, and race/ethnicity. This is the backbone of the IPEDS Dashboard, covering 40 years of PhD completions with Non-Resident Alien (NRA) breakdowns.
• Fall Enrollment (EF-A): Current enrollment by level of study and demographics. Used to calculate the NRA share of graduate enrollment at each institution.
• Finance (F1A): Institutional revenues, expenditures, and research spending. Used to contextualize how much federal money flows to institutions training large NRA cohorts.
• Human Resources (S): Faculty and staff demographics, including NRA counts by academic rank.

IPEDS Data Center

NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED)

An annual census of every research doctorate recipient from a U.S. institution. Unlike IPEDS, the SED collects individual-level data including source country for temporary visa holders, postgraduation plans, and financial support. The SED is the source for our national doctorate trend charts, stay-rate analysis, and country-of-origin rankings (China, India, etc.).

NSF SED homepage · 2024 tables

NSF Graduate Student Survey (GSS)

Institution-reported data on enrollment, financial support, and demographics of graduate students in science and engineering departments. Provides field-level enrollment counts with foreign/domestic separation at each institution — more granular than IPEDS enrollment for S&E fields.

NSF GSS homepage

NSF Workforce Surveys (SDR & NSCG)

The Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) surveys ~80,000 PhD holders in the U.S. workforce. The National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) surveys ~95,000 college graduates. These are the only federal surveys that separate native-born citizens from naturalized citizens and permanent residents — a distinction that IPEDS and the SED cannot make. The NSCG also records specific birth country (via the BTHST_TOGA variable), enabling China-specific analysis.

SDR microdata · NSCG microdata

NSF Higher Education R&D Survey (HERD)

Reports total R&D expenditures by institution and funding source (federal, state, industry, etc.). Used to show how much research funding flows to universities with the highest NRA concentrations.

NSF HERD homepage

ICE SEVIS Data (SEVP)

Student and Exchange Visitor Information System data tracking all F-1 and M-1 visa holders. Provides current counts by country of citizenship, education level, and U.S. state. Also includes STEM-specific breakdowns at the state level. As of March 2026, China has 229,463 active student records.

SEVIS Data Mapping Tool

DOL H-1B Disclosure & USAspending

H-1B LCA data from the Department of Labor covers every Labor Condition Application for H-1B visas, including employer, job title, wage, and work location. Used to understand the post-graduation employment pipeline. USAspending federal grant data shows total federal awards to each university.

DOL OFLC data · USAspending.gov

Federal data limitations

• IPEDS citizen/green-card conflation: The largest limitation. IPEDS cannot separate U.S. citizens from permanent residents. Any "domestic" percentage includes an unknown share of green card holders. The SDR suggests this hidden foreign-born share is approximately 28% of the domestic PhD workforce.
• SED country data is national only: The SED reports that China is the top source country for temporary-visa PhDs, but this data is not available at the institution or department level.
• IPEDS reporting lag: Some institutions report IPEDS data with a 1-year delay. Revised (_rv) files are more accurate than preliminary releases.
• Pre-2008 IPEDS race categories: Data before 2008 uses different race/ethnicity categories (no "two or more races" option). Historical comparisons require careful handling.
• COVID disruptions: 2020-2021 doctorate data was affected by pandemic delays in degree completion and survey response rates.
• H-1B data covers applications, not grants: LCA disclosure data shows Labor Condition Applications filed, not actual visa approvals or arrivals.

Dissertation & name classification limitations

• Name classification is probabilistic: Names are assigned to origin categories based on statistical patterns, not verified identity. Some names are ambiguous across multiple origins. Accuracy varies by origin group.
• No citizenship information: A Chinese-origin name does not mean the person is a Chinese citizen. They may be a naturalized U.S. citizen, a permanent resident, or a citizen of another country (e.g., Singapore, Malaysia).
• Repository completeness varies: Some universities have digitized all dissertations back to the 1960s; others only have recent decades. Coverage is not uniform.
• Not all records are doctoral: Some repositories mix master's theses with doctoral dissertations. We filter by degree type when available, but some misclassification may persist.
• Metadata quality: Missing dates, departments, or degree types are common in older records. Some records have incomplete author names.
• Selection bias in universities covered: The 80+ universities shown are primarily R1 institutions with high NRA enrollment. They do not represent all PhD-granting institutions in the U.S.