Publication: Star Tribune
January 2nd, 2005 - A stroll through the research labs at the University of Minnesota anytime in the last couple of decades would have shown how important foreign students are to the scientific enterprise of this state and nation. A majority of the graduate students populating many a lab were born in other countries.
That means there is a big Minnesota stake in reversing a worrisome trend: Enrollment of foreign graduate students on American campuses dropped 6 percent this year, and applications fell 28 percent. For the first time in 30 years, the number of foreign students fell on all American campuses, undergraduate and graduate. The number of students in China and India who took the Graduate Record Exam, a prerequisite to studying in U.S. graduate schools, was down by 50 percent last year.
As the New York Times reported on Dec. 21, one reason for the change is that the academic competition in other countries is getting tougher. While many states, including Minnesota, have nickeled and dimed higher education, China has made the upgrading of its research universities a national priority. American-style degree programs, taught in English, are popping up in universities all over Europe. It's becoming more attractive for the world's best and brightest students to study at home.
But a more immediate -- and more easily remedied -- explanation arose in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Obtaining a visa to study or teach in the United States became a more complicated and time-consuming process, with a less predictable result.
In a letter to the state's congressional delegation, David B. Laird Jr., the head of the Minnesota Private College Council, cited an example of what Minnesota colleges are experiencing. He had just returned from a November trip to China. "In China, if we want to invite a university president or government educational leader to visit us in Minnesota, the process would have to begin six months in advance of the intended visit and likely would need to be repeated two or three times before achieving success. That person would likely have to travel hundreds of miles for a two-minute interview and probably be turned down on the first attempt.
"Our attempts to work with embassy personnel have been nearly as frustrating. Only when one or more members of our congressional delegation have intervened have we been able to alter the process or the results." Laird went on to warn: "There are clear indications that many longtime partner nations have decided to shift resources and people to other competitor nations throughout the world."
Once new patterns of student exchange are established, altering them will be very difficult. And the loss to this state and nation if the best foreign students study elsewhere will be keenly felt. Bright young immigrants, fresh from U.S. graduate schools, are key to helping this nation meet industry's galloping demand for engineers and scientists, at a time when the number of American high school students preparing to enter those fields is dwindling.
That's why congressional action is needed now to ease the way for foreign students into American universities once more. Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman introduced such a bill last summer. That bill should become a matter of priority when the new Congress begins its work this month.
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