. :~ ALIVE FUN ARTICALS ~: .
Though the United States continues — at least for now — to be the top destination of choice for prospective international graduate students seeking their postbaccalaureate degree, it can no longer take for granted its ability to attract a growing pool of international applicants, according to a report by the Council of Graduate Schools released this month.
Findings from the 2008 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey show a falloff in the growth rate of international student applications to U.S. graduate schools: In 2006, the number of applications from foreign graduate students increased 12 percent over the previous year, while in 2007, the increase in applications slipped to nine percent; between 2007 and 2008, growth fell even further, to just three percent.
After years of steady increases in foreign graduate applications, it was inevitable that the rate of growth would slow and then level off, said Kenneth Redd, the director of research and policy analysis at CGS. Still, he told The Chronicle of Higher Education, “what was surprising to us was the pace of the drop-off” (“Growth in Foreign Applications to American Graduate Schools Slows,” April 14, 2008).
Greatest Impact May Be Felt in Decelerating Pace of Applications From Asia
The declining growth rate of international graduate applications has been most dramatic among prospective students from India, Korea, and China — countries whose students account for nearly one-half of all non-U.S. citizens attending U.S. graduate schools, according to the 2007 Open Doors report from the Institute of Higher Education.
After having grown 26 percent in 2006 and 12 percent in 2007, the number of graduate applications from India stayed flat in 2008. Applications from prospective Korean graduate students were also flat both this year and last, after rising 4 percent in 2006. And the number of graduate applications from China was up only 12 percent this year, after a 19 percent increase in 2007.
Asian Government Initiatives Keep Graduate Students at Home
Graduate students from India, Korea, and China who previously might have had their eyes set on a school in the United States are increasingly choosing to continue their studies at home, thanks to aggressive higher-education initiatives in their home countries:
1. The National Knowledge Commission in India has called on the Indian government to add 1,500 new universities by 2015 to keep up with surging student demand.
2. Largely by improving the quality and capacity of its graduate schools, China has more than doubled the number of its in-country graduate students since 1998.
3. South Korea has invested over $1 billion in an effort to transform its universities into globally recognized institutions.
Increased International Competition Lures Graduate Students Away From U.S.
“I think the long-term is pretty clear, that countries around the world are investing a lot in graduate education and that competition is simply going to increase over time,” said William Russel, dean of the graduate school at Princeton University, to Inside Higher Ed (“Growth in International Applicants Slows,” April 14, 2008).
Besides confronting wide-reaching government efforts from Asian countries striving to keep their graduate talent at home, the United States is also facing increased competition from Britain, France, Germany, and Australia, as these countries implement national marketing campaigns targeted at attracting quality graduate students worldwide.
The current socio-political climate has many international students more willing to entertain these non-U.S. options for their graduate studies. In the wake of a heightened U.S. national xenophobia and the stringent national security that followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many potential graduate students now view the United States as a dangerous and unwelcoming country.
Students participating in a recent StudentPulse survey conducted by i-graduate, a London-based research firm, rated the United States particularly low in personal safety and identified it as the most difficult country from which to obtain a student visa.
Foreign Graduate Students in U.S. Lack Access to Student Loans and Grants
As part of their stepped-up international recruiting efforts, Australia and Europe are also increasing their offers of financial support to foreign graduate students.
The United States, in contrast, extends few financial inducements to international students. Foreign graduate students who are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent U.S. residents do not qualify for the federal grants and student loans that can help U.S. graduate students at all income levels cover up to 100 percent of their cost of attendance.
International students may also have trouble qualifying for their school’s institutional grants and graduate student loans or for many private student loans, which can also require U.S. citizenship or residency.
With limited access to college loans and other financial aid options, foreign graduate students pursuing their graduate degree in the United States must often finance their studies themselves: Over 60 percent of international graduate students attending a U.S. graduate program use their own personal and family resources to cover their graduate-school costs, according to the IHE Open Doors report
============================ The End =========================
0 comments:
Post a Comment