Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Yet another unintended victory for Al-Qaeda?
Robert Gates, the president of Texas A&M University (and former director of the CIA) has written an interesting op-ed in the New York Times that argues that post 9/11 security measures might be affecting the United States in the one area where they dominated the world -- higher education. This is a subject that has been discussed earlier on this blog as it became clear that the unwelcoming nature of America's new security aparatus was forcing foreign students to look elsewhere for their higher education.
Unfortunately, this does not merely mean a loss of revenue for US Universities but also a loss of skill sets that were in great demand within the United States because the demand for these skill sets were demonstrably not being met from within the domestic pool of applicants. Case in point -- computer science and electrical engineering. Gates wonders whether the new security measures may hand yet another unitended victory to Al-Qaeda. In addition, he also provides some numbers to make his case.
After 9/11, for perfectly understandable reasons, the federal government made it much tougher to get a visa to come to the United States. Sadly, the unpredictability and delays that characterize the new system — and, too often, the indifference or hostility of those doing the processing — have resulted over the last year or so in a growing number of the world's brightest young people deciding to remain at home or go to other countries for their college or graduate education. Thousands of legitimate international students are being denied entry into the United States or are giving up in frustration and anger.
At 90 percent of American colleges and universities, applications from international students for fall 2004 are down, according to a survey by the Council of Graduate Schools that was released earlier this month. According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, applications from China have fallen by 76 percent, while those from India have dropped by 58 percent. Applications to research universities from prospective international graduate students are down by at least 25 percent overall; here at Texas A&M, international student applications have fallen by 38 percent from last year.
Not surprisingly, universities in Australia, Britain, France and elsewhere are taking advantage of our barriers and are aggressively recruiting these students. According to the Chronicle, foreign student enrollment in Australia is up 16.5 percent over last year; Chinese enrollment there has risen by 20 percent.
Why should we be concerned? For starters, it is a sad reality that relatively small numbers of American students pursue graduate degrees in engineering and science. As a result, the research efforts at many American universities depend on international graduate students. They do much of the laboratory work that leads to new discoveries.
More troubling is the impact that declining foreign enrollments could have in the war on terrorism. To defeat terrorism, our global military, law enforcement and intelligence capacities must be complemented with positive initiatives and programs aimed at the young people in developing nations who will guide their countries in the future. No policy has proved more successful in making friends for the United States, during the cold war and since, than educating students from abroad at our colleges and universities. [Ed: This is absolutely true whether it be the Chicago Boys in Chile or the reformers in Russia in the 90's]
The last line in this paragraph highlights what I believe to be the real problem.
Senior officials in the White House and in the Departments of State and Homeland Security understand the importance of solving the visa processing problem. But carrying out post-9/11 visa policies and procedures has been badly hamstrung by a lack of resources, unrealistic deadlines and shortcomings in scanning technologies and background checks. American universities have had a difficult time tracking foreign student applicants as they move through the screening process — and there are just too many people in visa offices who are indifferent to the importance of these students to America.
Unfortunately, this does not merely mean a loss of revenue for US Universities but also a loss of skill sets that were in great demand within the United States because the demand for these skill sets were demonstrably not being met from within the domestic pool of applicants. Case in point -- computer science and electrical engineering. Gates wonders whether the new security measures may hand yet another unitended victory to Al-Qaeda. In addition, he also provides some numbers to make his case.
After 9/11, for perfectly understandable reasons, the federal government made it much tougher to get a visa to come to the United States. Sadly, the unpredictability and delays that characterize the new system — and, too often, the indifference or hostility of those doing the processing — have resulted over the last year or so in a growing number of the world's brightest young people deciding to remain at home or go to other countries for their college or graduate education. Thousands of legitimate international students are being denied entry into the United States or are giving up in frustration and anger.
At 90 percent of American colleges and universities, applications from international students for fall 2004 are down, according to a survey by the Council of Graduate Schools that was released earlier this month. According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, applications from China have fallen by 76 percent, while those from India have dropped by 58 percent. Applications to research universities from prospective international graduate students are down by at least 25 percent overall; here at Texas A&M, international student applications have fallen by 38 percent from last year.
Not surprisingly, universities in Australia, Britain, France and elsewhere are taking advantage of our barriers and are aggressively recruiting these students. According to the Chronicle, foreign student enrollment in Australia is up 16.5 percent over last year; Chinese enrollment there has risen by 20 percent.
Why should we be concerned? For starters, it is a sad reality that relatively small numbers of American students pursue graduate degrees in engineering and science. As a result, the research efforts at many American universities depend on international graduate students. They do much of the laboratory work that leads to new discoveries.
More troubling is the impact that declining foreign enrollments could have in the war on terrorism. To defeat terrorism, our global military, law enforcement and intelligence capacities must be complemented with positive initiatives and programs aimed at the young people in developing nations who will guide their countries in the future. No policy has proved more successful in making friends for the United States, during the cold war and since, than educating students from abroad at our colleges and universities. [Ed: This is absolutely true whether it be the Chicago Boys in Chile or the reformers in Russia in the 90's]
The last line in this paragraph highlights what I believe to be the real problem.
Senior officials in the White House and in the Departments of State and Homeland Security understand the importance of solving the visa processing problem. But carrying out post-9/11 visa policies and procedures has been badly hamstrung by a lack of resources, unrealistic deadlines and shortcomings in scanning technologies and background checks. American universities have had a difficult time tracking foreign student applicants as they move through the screening process — and there are just too many people in visa offices who are indifferent to the importance of these students to America.
