Postgraduate schools in the United States have seen a record-breaking number of Chinese applicants over the past year, a new survey showed.

The Council of Graduate Schools, a US organization dedicated to the advancement of graduate education and research, recently published a new survey that said Chinese applicants increased by 18 percent for the 2012 fall semester, marking the seventh successive year of double-digit growth in applications from China.

Applications from India increased by 2 percent, following an 8 percent increase in 2011. South Korea's 2 percent gain last year was followed by a decrease of 1 percent this year.

"The overall growth in applications is encouraging, but there are interesting variations between individual countries and regions," said Debra W. Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, in a written statement.

"We need to ensure that US graduate education attracts students from around the globe by increasing outreach efforts and pursuing policies that would allow those graduates who want to remain in the United States and contribute to our economy to do so," she added.

The survey polled all 500 US colleges and universities that were members of the Council of Graduate Schools as of January 2012.

The majority of institutions reported an increase in applications over the last year, with an average increase of 11 percent at these institutions. Four out of 10 responding institutions reported a decrease, averaging 9 percent.

Chinese undergraduate students rose in number as well. The Institute of International Education, a non-governmental organization based in the US, reported that Chinese students increased by 43 percent at the undergraduate level from 2010 to 2011, which largely accounts for the growth this past year.

By November 2011, the total Chinese enrollment in the United States reached 158,000, or nearly 22 percent of the overall international student population.

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