Academia Slams Visa Policies

U.S. engineering schools, which have become increasingly dependent on foreign students for educational programs and vital research, are growing concerned that they could lose out in terms of global competition for talent.

Behind their worries: tougher U.S. Visa policies on foreign students and researchers in the wake of 9/11. Three of the 19 hijackers in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks came to this country on student visas.

All across the U.S., engineering schools are reporting sagging foreign student application and enrollment figures, strains on research programs, and postponed programs and travel woes involving foreign students and faculty.

Survey results released this fall of 126 institutions by the Council of Graduate Schools found a 36-percent decline in applications for U.S. engineering graduate schools in 2004 versus 2003-and a 24 percent drop in admissions-by far the biggest decline of any of the fields tracked in the study.

"This is a matter of grave concern to us," says David Daniels, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. "Roughly half of the students in engineering graduate programs nationwide are from foreign countries."

In recent testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Purdue University President Martin Jischke noted that international students contribute nearly $13 billion to the U.S. economy and may serve as informal ambassadors for U.S. values when they return home. "U.S. relations around the world in the next 50 years are being nurtured at college campuses," he said.

Missed opportunities

While educational leaders and professional societies lobby Washington for relief, tales abound of hardship and missed opportunities. "We've had several instances of students being admitted but not being able to get here on time because of visa delays," says Nicholas Altiero, dean of the Engineering School at Tulane University. Overall, applications from foreign students at Tulane are down 60 percent, says Altiero, who adds that "many foreign students no longer feel that they are welcome in the U.S."

At George Mason University in Northern Virginia, George Donohue, director of the Air Transportation Systems Research Program, tells of a very gifted Vietnamese graduate student who returned to her home country for a vacation but could not get visa approval to come back the U.S. until she could prove that she had secured a post-graduate job in Vietnam. This delayed her return to the U.S. for several months, costing her the opportunity to study under the supervision of a Nobel laureate.

Linda Katehi, dean of the engineering school at Purdue, observes that her school's research activities are being seriously strained by the decline in foreign graduate students, who make up 75 percent of Purdue's engineering graduate student enrollment. One electronics research program had to return grant money to the government due to the lack of staff to do the work. "We are worried that the decline in applicants from abroad could be a long-term trend," Katehi says.

Meanwhile, say engineering deans, enrollments by foreign students are surging in other English-speaking countries. Even in Germany, Katehi says, engineering schools are starting programs taught in English to attract more foreign students.

Overall, international enrollments at universities in Australia, Canada, and the U.K. have risen by 10, 15, and 23 percent respectively in the last year. By contrast, the total number of international students in all majors at U.S. colleges stands at 586,000-an increase of just 0.6 percent from the previous year. In 2003, the number of student visas issued by the U.S. dropped 8 percent to 214,694, following a 20 percent decline in 2002. This represents the two biggest drops since the government began tracking student statistics in 1952.

In a letter to Congress earlier this year, Nils Hasselmo, president of the Association of American Universities, cited surveys showing acute declines in international graduate applications at the nation's biggest research-oriented universities. Observed Hasselmo: "Many of our campuses believe that an increasing number of internationally mobile students at the highest levels-those seeking advanced study and research in the sciences, medicine, technology and other fields-are looking for academic opportunities outside the United States."

Nor is the situation limited to the student population. William Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering, tells of an August visit to Russia, where members of the prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) complained bitterly about difficulties in obtaining visas for U.S. visits. "I am at a loss to convey the strength of their reaction," Wulf wrote in a letter to National Academy members. "Some said they had waited as long as a year and had still not received visas. Words like 'demeaning' and 'insulting' were used repeatedly and heatedly."

Similarly, C.D. Mote, president of the University of Maryland, points to difficulties in obtaining visas for Chinese managers attending Maryland's technical training programs. "What is the cost to the U.S. to put barriers up on programs like this that give us the opportunity to win friends and export democratic values?" Mote asks.

Foreign faculty in the U.S.-especially those in technical fields-also fear to travel abroad for important conferences, having heard tales of other professors left stranded overseas for long periods because of visa problems. In such instances, bills pile up in the U.S. for the individuals affected, while schools go without funded faculty members.

Fallout from 9/11

These and countless other examples of frustration can be traced to tougher policies put in place to prevent terrorists from entering the country under the guise of students or researchers. Following the passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001, the State Department and Department of Homeland Security have put into effect new rules that have made the visa process more difficult than ever before. For example:

Critics point to these rules as the chief reason for the record 35 percent refusal rate on foreign student visas in 2003. And while the State Department reports substantial progress recently in reducing visa processing delays, which had been running from two to six months for many students needing Visa Mantis clearances, educators say much more needs to be done.

Agenda for change

While acknowledging the need for effective federal procedures to bolster security, major educational and professional associations, including the National Academy of Engineering, the Association of American Universities, and IEEE, are seeking changes in policies from Congress and the Departments of State and Homeland Security. Among their chief recommendations:

Beyond these steps, many U.S. schools are personally stepping up their international recruitment programs-including more personal trips by engineering deans to Europe and Asia. They also are urging government agencies to be more vocal in acknowledging the many contributions that foreign students, faculty, and researchers have made to the social, economic, and technical life of the U.S. In the worldwide competition for brain power, educators fear that the U.S. is no longer encouraging foreign talent.

"The feedback I get is that we are having a tough time getting traction on this issue," says Dean Daniels of the University of Illinois. "The political mood now is to be more restrictive, not less restrictive. No visa officer wants to be the one who gets tracked down for admitting a terrorist."