South Korea remains the country with the highest number of active students.

According to the quarterly review of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) released on Wednesday, the number of Korean international students in U.S. undergraduate and graduate schools ranked top this year.

SEVIS tracked and monitored the status and activities of non-immigrant students and exchange visitors who entered the States since 2003.

As of September 30, 2008, the number of Korean international students in the United States was 115,852, an increase of close to 10 percent, which is the average for each of the past four years.

The numbers have gradually grown: from 73,272 in 2004 to 83,854 in 2005 (12.6 percent); to 93,728 in 2006 (10.5 percent). This number again grew by 10.3 percent in 2007; so far in 2008, the increase is 10 percent.

According to SEVIS, the overall count of international students from 2004 to 2008 is 1,123,321.

The Republic of Korea was followed in number of students by India, China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Turkey and Nepal.

The City University of New York registered the most international students (12,237), followed by the University of South California (6,695), Columbia University (5,944), Perdue University (5,866) and University of Illinois (5,574).

By state, California leads in international students (127,921), followed by New York (95,005), Texas (56,368), Massachusetts (40,244), Florida (34,094) and Illinois (32,924).

The SEVIS quarterly report was based on the number of students who have legal status and hold a visa-type F, M and J, and are registered at colleges, universities, ESL schools, or vocational schools nationwide.