more on ?? U.S. Is Losing Its Dominance in the Sciences

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 10:00:41 -0400
From: Claudio Gutiérrez <cgutierrez () improvement cl>
Subject: Re: [IP] U.S. Is Losing Its Dominance in the Sciences
To: dave () farber net

Colleges get a hard lesson in making the US secure
By Christopher Grimes in New York

Applications to US colleges from China, India and western Europe have 
dropped dramatically this year. The decline - which included a 76 per cent 
drop in Chinese graduate applications this year - is raising concerns that 
the US could lose a longtime source of competitive advantage in research, 
science and engineering.

University officials put part of the blame on stringent visa requirements 
enacted after September 11. A recent government study showed that science 
students faced waits averaging 67 days for security checks to be completed 
last year. Students in parts of India waited up to 12 weeks to be 
interviewed for visas.

At Michigan State University, such delays caused some visiting scholars to 
miss part of the academic year.

Lobbying pressure by colleges has already prompted the State Department to 
begin streamlining the visa application process. An electronic system for 
submitting security checks is expected to speed up the process.

But US university officials worry that the visa issue is only part of the 
problem. Universities in Britain, Canada and Australia have launched 
aggressive recruiting efforts that have attracted increased international 
student applications.

International students pump about $13bn a year into the US economy, 
according to the Institute of International Education, which administers 
the prestigious US government-backed Fulbright scholarships. But beyond 
their immediate economic impact, university officials say they benefit the 
US in myriad other ways - including taking home positive ideas about the US.

Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard, last week warned Colin Powell, the 
secretary of state, that the decline in foreign students threatens the 
quality of research coming from US universities. "If the next generation of 
foreign leaders are educated elsewhere, we also will have lost the 
incalculable benefits derived from their extended exposure to our country 
and its democratic values," Mr Summers wrote to Mr Powell.

Some officials at US universities are concerned that anti-US sentiment has 
contributed to the falling numbers. Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, associate 
dean for international students at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, says she is concerned that the the US no longer seems 
"welcoming" to foreign students. International applications to MIT's 
graduate programmes fell by 17 per cent this year. "Applications are down 
across the country. Is it because students have tried to apply but had 
trouble, or is it the perception that the US is not friendly? I think it's 
more of the latter," she says.

The extent of the problem was highlighted by a recent study by the Council 
of Graduate Schools. The survey showed that graduate applications from 
international students fell 32 per cent over the last year. The worst 
declines were from China and India, followed by the Middle East, Korea and 
western Europe.

Though alarming to US university officials, these figures are unlikely to 
translate into big falls in enrolment in the next academic year because 
universities are still oversubscribed, albeit less so than they have been 
in previous years.

Peter Briggs, director of Michigan state's office for international 
students and scholars, says he is pleased with the quality of applicants 
for the 2004-2005 academic year.

"What we don't know is whether this is the beginning of a longer trend 
line, where competition from the UK, Australia and Canada is going to be 
more attractive because the US has sent out unwelcoming signals," he says.

Regardless of the cause, university officials say they are concerned about 
the consequenc es of falling applications - particularly at a time when the 
US needs to promote a positive image abroad.

http://tinyurl.com/2bsyb (subscription needed)

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