FYI. Reax?
From: John Laxmi [email protected]
Over two years ago, in March 2004, I posted to this Discussion List a
NYT op-ed article by Robert Gates (now Defense Secretary nominee) when
he was head of Texas A&M University. In it, Gates bemoaned the decline
in number of student applicants from India and other countries because
of competition from Australia, Canada and our more restrictive visa
policies.
The article is posted below again. This could be of interest to Desis
and non-Desis even if, as Defense Secretay, Gates is not likely to
have much time to devote to immigration or education issues.
Regards,
John Laxmi, NJ
COPY OF POST FROM March 31, 2004
The following op-ed appears in today’s NYT.
Lots of stories to write on this topic… students from India are flocking
to Australia, that boring, barren land, instead of coming to this Land of
M&M … also, this is more important than the off-base debates on Offshoring
…
Regards,
John Laxmi, New Jersey www.johnlaxmi.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/opinion/31GATE.html
March 31, 2004
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
International Relations 101
By ROBERT M. GATES
COLLEGE STATION, Tex.
" Osama bin Laden and other terrorists are on the brink
of achieving an unanticipated victory, one that could have long-term
consequences for the United States.
Over the decades, millions of young people from other countries have
come to America to study at our colleges and universities. Many have
remained here to start companies, to keep us at the forefront of
scientific and technological discovery, to teach in our schools and to
enrich our culture. Many others have returned home to help build
market economies and to lead political reform.
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.
I take a back seat to no one in concern about our security at home in an
age
of terrorism. I am now the president of Texas A&M, but I spent nearly 30
years
at the Central Intelligence Agency, ultimately serving as director under
President George H. W. Bush. I learned during that time that protecting
our
security requires more than defensive measures; we have to win the war of
ideas,
too. For this reason, we simply cannot tolerate a visa process that fails
to
differentiate quickly and accurately between legitimate scholars and
students" and individuals who may pose genuine security risks.
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.
Universities are willing partners in strengthening homeland security. This
is not the 1960’s. We are working with the government to keep track of
international students. But averting a serious defeat for the United
States" and serious problems for all its research universities" will
require urgent action by Congress and the administration. Beyond the
risk to economic, scientific and political interests, we risk
something more: alienating our allies of the future.
Robert M. Gates, the director of central intelligence from 1991 to 1993,
is president of Texas A&M University.