American popular culture is full of claims that Asian Americans are "overrunning college campuses with high enrollment" but "such impressions exaggerate" their presence in US higher education, the study said.

Entitled Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders - Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight, the study was conducted by New York University, a group of mostly Asian-American educators, and the College Board, a group that holds standardised tests for mostly high school students.

The study showed that the number of Asian-Americans at institutions of higher learning was inflated by foreign students from Asian nations and that not all were top students gaining easy entry to the best colleges and universities to become doctors and engineers.

"Contrary to the fiction that Asian American and Pacific Islander students are taking over colleges and universities across the country, the increase in (their) higher education participation has mirrored the increases found among other populations during the same time period," according to the report.