More international students are studying at American universities and colleges than ever before, and nearly 30 percent of those students are from mainland China, according to a survey released last week by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

During the 2012-13 academic year, the number of Chinese students in the United States for undergraduate and graduate study grew by 21 percent to reach 235,597 students.

"This is the largest concentration of students of any one place of origin the US has ever seen," said Rajika Bhandari, IIE's deputy vice president for research and evaluation.