Debates over globalization and immigration tend to focus on the plight of millions of unskilled immigrants who enter the United States illegally, but such discussions often overlook the highly-educated immigrants who enter the country in pursuit of entrepreneurial dreams, according to a Duke University-led study.

Vivek Wadhwa, an executive-in-residence at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, led a study showing that immigrants were one of the key founders of 25.3 percent of all engineering and technology companies set up in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005. The study also found that the mix of immigrants varied by state, with Chinese and Indian nationals contributing to over half of immigrant-founded start-ups in California, particularly in Silicon Valley.

“In recent years, Asian immigrants have played an important role in Silicon Valley’s growth, as suppliers of both engineering and entrepreneurial talent,” said Rafiq Dossani, a senior scholar at the Stanford Asia/Pacific Research Center. “The Indian and Chinese communities’ contributions have been particularly noted because of their large numbers in the Valley.”

Dossani surveyed more than 10,000 members of Silicon Valley’s ethnic Chinese and Indian engineering and business associations for a 2002 study to provide an accurate profile of immigrant entrepreneurs with respect to birthplace, age distribution, arrival date in the U.S and education level.

Within the survey group, 68.5 percent listed Greater China or India as their place of birth.

U.S.-born respondents made up 23.2 percent, and the rest came from other countries. More than half — 55.9 percent of Chinese and 54.4 percent of Indians — of the respondents indicated that they were aged 26 to 35 years. The majority of both ethnic groups arrived in the U.S. during the early- to mid-1990s.

According to Dossani’s study, over half of the immigrant founders held a master’s degree, with 29 percent of Chinese CEOs holding doctoral degrees and 28 percent of Indian entrepreneurs having MBAs. About three-quarters had bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

“The survey confirms several of the popular views about the contributions of the mainland Chinese and Indian-born immigrants into Silicon Valley,” Dossani said.

“Across the board, they are all highly educated and entrepreneurial. However, the data suggests that despite their short stay in the U.S., Indians have advanced relatively rapidly up the corporate ladder due to the higher percentage of managerial degrees (MBAs) versus the Chinese’s stress on technical education (Ph.D.’s).”