March 23, 2006

International Rebound

Foreign applications to graduate schools in the United States have increased 11 percent in the last year, marking a substantial — if incomplete — rebound from recent declines, according to data being released today by the Council of Graduate Schools.

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The increase follows a two-year cumulative decline of 32 percent in such applications, which are particularly important to graduate schools in engineering and the sciences. The increases this year crossed disciplinary boundaries and were particularly strong from China (up 21 percent) and India (up 23 percent), the two countries that are the sources of the greatest number of international applications.

The data on graduate schools arrive at a time when international education issues continue to capture the attention of many educators and lawmakers. The leaders of six major higher education associations sent a letter this week to the U.S. secretaries of state and education, outlining steps that could be taken to build on the recent summit meeting on international education between college presidents and administration officials. And two groups that focus on international education issued a statement Wednesday with suggestions for policies that lawmakers and colleges to consider.

The mood among all the groups concerned with educational exchanges is considerably more upbeat than it was a few years ago, and there is a sense that many in Washington want to help colleges attract more foreign students and encourage American students to have a more global perspective. But those issuing the statements and reports stress that there is considerably more that needs to be done, and many say that the problems extend beyond visa snafus to broader questions involving money, the curriculum, and immigration policy.

More Graduate Applications

The survey on graduate applications is built around percentages, not actual numbers of applicants. Graduate schools are at different stages in their admissions cycle and so they were asked for comparisons between this year’s figures and those of comparable periods in previous years.

“There’s no question but that we are seeing broad gains,” Debra W. Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, said in an interview, but she added that the data also indicate that most institutions were well behind where they were in 2003.

Percentage Change in International Graduate Applications From Previous Year

Richard Wheeler, dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said that the national data were very close to what he was seeing at his campus. He also said that there was a direct relationship between the figures for Chinese applicants and those in engineering and the physical sciences, the fields many from China enter.

Wheeler said that the drops in previous years were “precipitous,” making the recovery this year extremely important. Between 35 and 40 percent of graduate students at Illinois are from outside the United States, but the proportion is well over half in many science and technology fields.

Stewart of the Council of Graduate Schools attributed the upturn in applications to actions of both the federal government and the graduate schools. U.S. officials have responded to complaints about difficulties of foreign students in getting visas and have worked hard to smooth out the process and to publicize abroad that American leaders want foreign students to enroll. For instance, she noted the announcement in January by the Departments of Homeland Security and State of a relaxation of some visa rules for foreign students.

At the same time, she said, graduate schools have increased their recruitment efforts. This is especially important, she said, because other countries are going after the same students American institutions want to enroll. She noted, for example, a major effort in Germany to improve the quality of its graduate schools and new fellowships Italy is offering to foreign graduate students. She said that as a result of efforts like these, it is becoming more difficult for American universities to recruit European students.

Looking ahead, she said that it may be time to rethink immigration policies as part of efforts to attract the best foreign students. For instance, students applying for visas are currently asked about their future plans and it is known that anyone who answers anything but that they plan to return home will be rejected. Stewart said that she backed legislation that would make it possible for students to express interest in pursuing a Ph.D. in certain fields and staying in the United States to work in those fields.

Competition for foreign students is going “to focus on quality and not just quantity,” she said, and our policies need reach out to the best students.

Future Directions for International Education

The need to reach out to such students is also stressed in a letter sent this week to Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, by the heads of six higher education associations.

“If our international economic competition is from countries such as India and China, it’s certainly time that we work out how some of the brightest people who come to study here can more easily stay,” said Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and one of those who signed the letter.

“If they want to stay, we should want them to stay. The idea of limiting these excellent people is a throwback to a different era,” he said.

The letter praises recent reforms in the visa process, but urges continued vigilance on the issue. McPherson said that the Bush administration is sincere in its commitment to work on these issues, and he said that the meetings in January of university presidents with Rice, Spellings and President Bush were historic.

But he also said it was obvious that there were still problems. He noted the way the United States originally denied a visa to a prominent organic chemist from India who was invited to a scholarly meeting on the campus of the University of Florida. McPherson said that he hoped that the incident “heightened some sensitivities in the bureaucracy,” and that it was clear that academics continued to be on the alert for any breakdowns in the system.

“There is this tension between security concerns and freedom of movement of people and ideas,” he said, and colleges must continue to advocate for the latter while being aware of the former.

The letter to the secretaries was also signed by the presidents of the American Council on Education, the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of American Universities, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. The letter also:

• Backed President Bush’s proposals to expand the study of foreign languages, especially those that relate to national security needs.
• Urged the administration to support the recommendations of a Congressionally created plan that has called for the creation of national fellowships to urge more Americans to study abroad.
• Criticized recent proposed regulations — apparently being scaled back — that would have put limits on the activities of students from some countries in certain kinds of laboratories. Many scientists have described these rules as impossible for the way research is conducted, and needlessly insulting to foreign students.

On Wednesday, two international education groups released their own plan for international education. NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange, said in their joint statement that the turn “inward” by some Americans after the Cold War was a mistake.

The statement is consistent philosophically with what the other associations are endorsing, but goes further in its detail and ambition. The NAFSA statement calls for:

• A 10-year goal of having all American college students graduate with proficiency in at least one foreign language and a “basic understanding” of at least one world area.
• Liberalized visa policies both for international students and those who wish to work in the United States.
• Plans to make sure that at least half of American college students spend some of their college years abroad.
• Shifts in study abroad programs to encourage more enrollments in non-Western countries.
• The appointment of a senior White House official to coordinate such efforts.

— Scott Jaschik

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