IU sees decline in foreign grad students

When graduate Faraz Sheikh decided to pursue a Ph.D. in Islamic studies outside of his home country of Pakistan, he looked at universities in the Middle East, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. He decided to come to IU because the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department offered him the most money, and he saw the world-renowned value of a degree from the United States.\n"The higher education system of the United States is well regarded in Pakistan and all over the world," Sheikh said. "This would allow me to return to Pakistan or go anywhere in the world for future research or studies or teaching"\nHowever, the numbers of foreign graduate students who hold Sheikh's view are declining at IU. Tighter regulations at consulates and embassies worldwide, the increased cost and hassle of getting a student visa and aggressive graduate student recruitment from other nations have led to 162 fewer international graduate students enrolling at IU this year than in 2003 -- an 8.2 percent decline. \nAccording The Associated Press, the Council of Graduate Schools released a survey last year citing a 6 percent decline nationally in 2004 foreign graduate student enrollment and a 32 percent decline in such applications. The impacts of this trend could be widespread for IU, where international students comprise as much as 25 percent of graduate student enrollment.\nPolicies implemented as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks have made it more difficult for international students to gain the student visas they need to get into the United States, said Chris Foley, the director of foreign graduate student admissions at IU . He said shortly after the attacks in 2001, Congress mandated the implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a database which houses information on all international students from the time they first apply through their stay in the United States. He said the quick implementation of the software -- which was up and running by January 2002 -- has led to a number of kinks, including consulates not receiving information submitted by the University. \nStudents must also answer a number of questions on the visa application. One asks: "Do you seek to enter the United States to engage in export control violations, subversive or terrorist activities, or any other unlawful purpose? Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization as currently designated by the U.S. Secretary of State? Have you ever participated in persecutions directed by the Nazi government of Germany; or have you ever participated in genocide?"\nThese security checks make the process of getting a visa very slow, President Adam Herbert said in his Oct. 6 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.\n"Despite recent U.S. State Department efforts to alleviate this problem, we continue to hear from students and scholars that the process is bottlenecked and difficult to navigate," he said. "As a result, these problems are discouraging, and they are preventing significant numbers of international students and scholars from studying and working in the United States."\nFoley said certain types of applicants must wait longer than others, as well.\n"This impacts a couple of different populations," he said, which include male Islamic students from predominantly Muslim countries, as well as students of particular areas of study such as nuclear physics. \nSheikh, who is Muslim, said it took him roughly 40 days for him to be granted a visa after he filed his paperwork. \nBy contrast, Adrian Borbely, a French citizen and public affairs master's student at IU, said he was granted his visa within two days of filing.\nFoley said another problem is that students must undergo security checks to get back into the United States if they leave the country.\n"The one example you always hear is that we always had a large number of Malaysian students," he said. "They went home and when they wanted to come back, only the women were allowed to come back." \nHerbert said the restrictions have hit IU hard. For the fall 2004 semester, international application for graduate admission dropped 21 percent, Herbert said. \nAccording to IU's Office of International Services, in 2003 foreign graduate enrollment was 1,975. Only 1,813 graduate students from other countries enrolled at IU in 2004 -- an 8.2 percent decline. \nFoley said the decline's impact on IU could be significant, if only for the sheer number of foreign graduate students at IU.\n"That's going to have dramatic economic implications on tuition if they are paying full tuition," he said. "If they're not, they are here to write grants and teach students. In many cases, they have particular skills that cannot be replaced by domestic students, necessarily."\nHerbert said the economic impact on Indiana is also considerable. He said international students contribute $326 million to the Indiana economy every year.\nBut, Foley said the damage done by visa regulations being too tight is not always directly quantitative. He said when people from other nations study in the United States, they build a friendship and an understanding of the country they would not otherwise have. Foley said understanding alone can help combat terrorism and other threats to the United States.\n"I would say that we are safer to make friends than we are to not make them," he said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Zennie at mmzennie@indiana.edu.