Declining appeal of foreign medical education for U.S. students

Concerns over the poor educational standards of some foreign medical schools and the cost of postgraduate education at a time of a projected physician surplus in the United States have led to efforts to pass federal legislation that would limit or remove access of U.S. graduates of foreign medical schools to residency programs in the United States. However, the need for such legislation has been diminished since the appeal of foreign medical education for U.S. students is on the decline. In this paper, the author reviews the economic and educational environment that in the mid-1970s led to the growth in the numbers of U.S. students who sought foreign medical education and contrasts it with the environment in the mid-1980s. Recent data are cited that support a reversal of that earlier trend.