According to new data from the Institute on International Education, in the 2014-15 academic year, there were 124,861 foreign scholars teaching at American colleges and universities. The number of foreign scholars was up slightly from the previous year. The vast majority of these foreign scholars are from either Europe or Asia.
In the 2014-15 academic year, there were 1,989 scholars from sub-Saharan African nations teaching at U.S. colleges and universities. This is up nearly 8 percent after a 13 percent decline the previous year. Seven years ago there were 2,750 scholars from sub-Saharan Africa teaching at U.S. colleges and universities.
Nigeria sent 395 scholars to teach in the U.S., more than any other sub-Saharan African nation. South African ranked second with 227 scholars teaching in the U.S., up by two from the previous year after a 26.3 percent drop from the year before. In all probability, some of these South African scholars are White.
Ghana was third with 225 scholars teaching in the United States. Kenya remained in fourth place in the rankings with 203 professors at American colleges and universities. This was a slight increase from the previous year after a significant decrease of more than 26 percent the year before.
Among other sub-Saharan African nations, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Cameroon were the only other countries to send as many as 100 scholars to teach at U.S. universities. Zimbabwe and Tanzania each sent more than 50 scholars to teach in the United States.
