The number of Chinese students applying in US graduate schools has once again dropped just like in 2013, according to statistics from a US education group.

Based on a report released by the Council of Graduate Schools, the number of Chinese students applying for fall enrollment this year has dropped by 1 per cent compared to last year's number.

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In 2013, the number of applications for the same period from Chinese students to graduate schools in the US has already declined by 3 percent from that of 2012, according to the same report. 

"Dismissed by some observers a year ago as an aberration, the cooling of the Chinese market no longer can be written off as a one-year blip," the council's report said.

The council's report was based on a survey done in February and March this year and was participated in by 308 US institutions that awarded 67 percent of some 109,000 graduate school degrees to foreign students during the academic period 2011-12.

Despite the reports from the council, US ambassador to China Max Baucus said on Tuesday during an event in Beijing for Chinese students leaving for graduate studies in the US, Chinese students still make up the biggest group of foreign students in their country.

"Last year, the US embassy issued 246,000 student and exchange visitor visas to Chinese applicants", reported Baucus.  He added that 40 percent of the total number of student visas issued by his country was granted to Chinese students.

In the 2013 International Education Exchange report by Open Doors, the total number of Chinese students enrolled in colleges and universities for the academic year 2012-2013 reached more than 235,000 which was 21.3 percent more than past figures.

Erik Black, education officer at the US embassy in Beijing, said that the report of Open Doors is a "much more comprehensive survey" involving more than 3,000 schools.  Black added that according to the Open Doors survey there has been no decline in the number of Chinese applications for graduate studies in the U.S.

According to Wang Jing, director of the US section at Chivast Education International, the decline in the number of Chinese applicants for graduate studies in the US being reported may be due to the fact that there has been an increase in the number of Chinese students opting to study in the US even before college or even before getting to high school.