A new study shows a small increase in the number of international students who attended colleges and universities in Illinois last year.
The Institute of International Education recently released its annual Open Doors study. It shows that Illinois schools enrolled 52,225 international students for the 2016-2017 year. That's a 3.8 percent increase from the previous academic year.
In the previous three years, the increases have been 8.1 percent, 9.5 percent and 8.7 percent.
International students in Chicago say U.S. universities offer some of the best research opportunities in the world.
But students and study officials agreed that political changes in the U.S. are impacting the market for recruiting international students. They say the full effects may not be known for a few years.
The study didn't include complete data since President Donald Trump was elected.
