(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- The Chinese students make the largest group among international students studying in the US. The students from China topped the list of largest international student group for the eighth consecutive year, accounting for 32.5 percent of the total international students studying in the US, according to the '2017 Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange' made public by the Press and Culture Office of the US Embassy in China yesterday.

In the 2016/17 academic year, the number of students from China enrolled in the US higher education institutions increased to 350,800, up 6.8 percent from the previous year, the report showed.

In addition, in 2016, Chinese students studying in the US contributed USD12.5 billion (about CNY84 billion) to the US economy, nearly 10 percent higher than the USD11.4 billion in 2015, data from the US Department of Commerce indicated.

This year, the number of Chinese undergraduate students in the US has surpassed that of postgraduates for the third consecutive year. In the 2016/17 academic year, 142,900 Chinese undergraduates studied in the US, up 5.3 percent over the previous academic year, while 128,300 graduate students pursued their degree in the US, up 4.1 percent.

This has a lot to do with the fact that undergraduate programs in the US universities provide scholarships to international students and is also related to the Chinese families' growing economic strength, public relations counsellor at the US Embassy in China, Bai Shilang, believes, according to the report.

China has also become a popular destination for the US students who study in Asia as the cost of higher education in the US continues to rise, wenweipo.com reported.

In the list of the most popular destinations for the US students to study abroad, China ranked sixth in the 2015/16 academic year, but first among other Asian countries. A total of 11,689 American students studied in China in the same academic year.

The Press and Culture Office of US Consulate in Shanghai said the growing exchanges between China and the US will encourage more American students to come to China to study and promote cultural exchanges.