Tag Archives: international student enrollment

May 23, 2013 · 4:18 pm

Top 10 States in the U.S. for International Students

May 23, 2013

“I never truly understood myself until I met the other. I never truly met the other until I got past myself. What are time and distance, but bridges to be crossed on my journey to meet the other, and in so doing, find myself?” ~Unknown

International education, whether it is a globalization of academic curriculum or student exchange or both, is important as it forces necessary introspection at the same time it engages the other. We can say “international education” serves as a “bridge” between countries and cultures. Countries may not enjoy good diplomatic relations, people of different religious beliefs may not understand one another, and people speaking different languages may not be able to communicate, but international education promotes cross-cultural understanding when students from different parts of the world work together on a project, share dorm rooms, study or conduct research together. Their different customs, tradition, religious beliefs, political affiliations and different languages are bridged through educational endeavors. The importance of international education goes far beyond the individual…it is citizen diplomacy at its best.

International education is also good for the economy. If you didn’t know this already, it goes without saying that international student exchange contributed an estimated $22.7 billion to the U.S. economy in fiscal year 2011-2012. According to the Open Doors Data – Institute of International Education: “Higher education is among the United States’ top service sector exports, as international students provide revenue to the U.S. economy and individual host states for living expenses, including room and board, books and supplies, transportation, health insurance, support for accompanying family members, and other miscellaneous items.”

Here are the top 10 States in the U.S. and the estimated revenue contributed to each state’s economy in the 2011-12 academic year:

1. California $3.215 billion

Source: http://www.mybackgrounds.com

2. New York $2.59 billion

Source: http://www.guardnow.com

3. Texas $1.356 billion

Source: http://www.blueprep.com

4. Massachusetts $1.49 billion

Source: http://www.wallpaper.com

5. Illinois $1.004 billion

Source: http://www.destination360.cpm

6. Pennsylvania $1.077 billion

Source: http://www.citywallpapers.com

7. Florida $935.7 billion

Source: http://www.destination360.com

8. Ohio $717.0 million

Source: http://www.fanpop.com

9. Michigan $758.7 million

Source: http://www.fantom-xp.com

10. Indiana $688.2 million

Source: http://www.indianalandmarks.com

If there are any misconceptions out there about international students being a drain on the U.S. economy or taking seats away from domestic students, the figure reported by IIE’s Open Door should set the record straight.

Useful links: http://eca.state.gov/impact/state-state-data/

Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc.
www.acei1.com

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Filed under Credentials, Education, Human Interest

Tagged as education, education higher education, educational endeavors, enrollment, higher education, international student enrollment, international student exchange

May 9, 2013 · 5:17 pm

International Student Visas in the News, Again

May 09, 2013

The recent tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon, signifying yet another senseless act of violence and loss of innocent lives has spawned a wave of anti-immigration sentiments, in particular concerning student “visas.” According to the online blog Politico: last Wednesday on Fox News, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said “student visas are not a right…that the nation needed to be open to changes that provided more security…I don’t like profiling anybody, I don’t like singling out anybody or generalizing anything. On the other hand student visas are not a right. Student visas are something this country does out of generosity, student visas are something this country does because we figured out it’s in our national interest, but you don’t have a right to a student visa. Therefore we can place whatever restrictions we want on student visas.”

Before we demonize all international students and even the process by which student visas are issued and tracked, we need to be reminded that we already have an effective system in place known as SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), the Homeland Security database, that was created after the attacks of September 11, 2001. According to Chuck Olcese, the director of international student services at the University of Kansas: “international students are actually watched more closely than other people visiting the country…the student visa system is the most-watched system in the immigration process.” http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/may/03/ku-other-universities-monitor-status-international/

One of the three 19-year old men, Azamat Tazhayakov, charged last week with interfering with the investigation into last month’s bombing was admitted back into the U.S. in January without a valid student visa. Turns out that the visa for Tazhayakov had been terminated since he’d withdrawn from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. This information had been reported by the University and Tazhayakov’s status had been updated in the SEVIS database. Had the border agent at the airport checked the SEVIS database, he/she would have seen that Tazahayakov did not have a valid student visa and could have denied him/her entry, but the agent did not have access to the SEVIS database. Under existing procedures, border agents can verify a student’s vista status through SEVIS only when the person is referred to a second officer for additional questioning or inspection, “U.S. to tighten border checks on foreign students”. Having acknowledged the glitch in the procedure, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ordered that all border agents must have access to SEVIS by this week.

Creating more stringent requirements on granting visas to international students, as declared by Senator Rubio, is not the answer. Due diligence is already being carried out by the U.S. institutions admitting these students. Clearly, the SEVIS database is populated with invaluable information; it is access to this information that hindered the apprehension of Tazahayakov when he arrived on U.S. soil in January. Hopefully now that all border agents have been given authorized access to SEVIS, the likes of radicals like Tazahayakov can be stopped and denied entry before they can wreak havoc.

For more on this breaking new policy check out this piece: “US orders new visa reviews for arriving students”

The Frustrated Evaluator
www.acei1.com

China: Taking steps to ensure academic document legitimacy

Cooperative Agreement between CDGDC and ACEI

April 18, 2013

According to a recent IIE Open Door report “International Student enrollment increased by 5% in 2010/11, led by strong increase in students from China.” The report cites a 23% increase in the number of Chinese students of which 43% are studying at the undergraduate level.

According to the US Department of Commerce, international student contributes more than $21 billion to the US economy, through their expenditures on tuition, living expenses such as room and board, books and supplies, transportation, health insurance and covering the financial cost of their accompanying family members.

In the same breath, a 2010 report published by Zinch states that in China “the cultural norm is that there is no harm in creating false documents.” As credential evaluation professionals, we recognize the importance of supporting the U.S. position as the number one destination for international students and are always striving to find ways we can help bolster and improve our service to complement the needs of the U.S. institutions requiring international transcript evaluations. We are also cognizant that doing our due diligence by ensuring the legitimacy of documents is, first and foremost, an integral component of evaluating academic credentials.

One step we have taken to address the growing number of Chinese student applications for college/university admission and even professional licensing is through our cooperation with the China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center (CDGDC) in Beijing. CDGDC is the legal entity, authorized by the government in China that provides verification of degrees, certificates, diplomas and other related educational document conferred by Chinese colleges and universities as well as secondary credentials.

I had the good fortune of being introduced to the CDGDC Director, Mr. Wang, through our contact Mr. Chenguan (Alex) Lu with EducationUSA in Beijing. Through this introduction, I was able to secure a meeting in San Francisco on April 14, 2013 with Mr. Wang and a delegation from CDGDC where we signed the Cooperative Agreement between our two organizations to carry out comparative studies of Sino-U.S. degrees and other educational credentials through verification and evaluation.

For the past two years, ACEI has been referring its Chinese students seeking an evaluation of their academic credentials to the CDGDC for document verification. By signing the Cooperative Agreement, ACEI will continue to use CGDCD’s educational credential verification services in its educational evaluation work. Chinese applicants are advised to contact the CDGDC and request the verification of their academic transcripts, certificates, diplomas and/or degrees. CDGDC in turn submits its verification directly to ACEI certifying the legitimacy of the academic documents. The verification of academic documents from China will further ensure that the evaluations prepared by ACEI are based on educational documents that have been properly vetted by a legal entity.

We can continue to be the number one destination for international students and we can do so without loosening our requirements and lowering our standards.

Jasmin S. Kuehnert
President & CEO ACEI
www.acei1.com

Tag Archives: international student enrollment

Top 10 States in the U.S. for International Students

International Student Visas in the News, Again

China: Taking steps to ensure academic document legitimacy

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