IS AMERICA'S UNIVERSITY EDUCATION THE KEY TO THE GLOBAL MARKET TODAY?

How many foreign students have you known? Were they in classes with you as you grew up, or are they in local schools now with your children and your neighbors' kids? Can you think of American movies and TV shows in which international students play prominent (albeit usually comedic) roles? America has a long tradition of hosting students from all over the world, a testament to the flexibility of the nation's culture, economy and academic traditions. After 9/11, many people were concerned that tradition would end, for both political and economic reasons. But it turns out foreign students are still coming to America in record numbers.

Late last year, the Institute of International Education reported an all-time high number of foreign students -- more than 764,000 -- came to study at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2011-12 academic year. Of those exchange students, 70% were funded by sources outside the U.S., and they ended up contributing $22.7 billion to America's economy. The IEE report found "the continued conviction of international students (and parents) that a U.S. degree is a sound investment in their future careers." And that seems true even in European countries with their own hallowed academic traditions.

For example, International Business Times reports that, despite the relatively inexpensive cost of higher education in France, a record number of more than 8,200 French students came to the U.S. last year to advance their studies. And French students studying in the U.S. have climbed by nearly 17% over the past seven years. Economics is a leading reason. Like much of Europe, France is mired in recession, and jobs there are hard to come by, especially for young adults. But the French students interviewed say they're coming to the States to give themselves a competitive advantage in an increasingly globalized job market.

Indeed, foreigners who in the past might have gone to France or the U.K. are choosing to study at American schools. "I had the opportunity to go to Paris instead," Alara Alkin, who studied at a French-language school in her native Turkey, recently told The New York Times. "But French is dying, and America is alive." Alkin said she expects to study chemical and biological engineering at Philadelphia's Drexel University next year.

The U.S is also seen as more open to international students than many other countries. For the first time in a dozen years, the IIE says, "international undergraduates studying in the United States now outnumber international graduate students." At the same time, the U.S. is sending more college students outside of its borders to study. The IIE says nearly 274,000 Americans studied abroad during the 2010-11 academic year -- an all-time high and a 1% increase over t