Decline Seen in Science Applications From Overseas

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Decline Seen in Science Applications From Overseas

February 26, 2004
 By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO




WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 - Bucking a trend that dates to the end
of World War II, the number of foreign students applying to
graduate and doctoral programs in science at American
universities is declining broadly, according to a survey of
130 such programs released here today.

The findings came as the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, reported that foreign
students and scholars hoping to study science or certain
technologies at universities in the United States must wait
an average of 67 days to receive a visa. For some of them,
the delays extend up to a year, the report said.

"It's really what we've been fearing all along," said Vic
Johnson, associate director for public policy at the
Association of International Educators. "It's the
accumulation of a lot of things that is just causing a
change in the attractiveness of the United States as a
destination for students and scholars."

The General Accounting Office study said the nation's
system for issuing visas for research in sensitive areas
was unnecessarily slow and cumbersome.

For example, it said, while the State Department, the
F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security are all
involved in researching candidates for visas, the three
agencies do not have data systems that can work with each
other. In addition, the report said, it takes the State
Department two weeks just to notify consular officials
abroad once it has cleared a candidate to receive a visa.

"Everyone has to be willing to put up with more delays and
bureaucracy in the post-Sept. 11 world," Representative
Sherwood Boehlert, the New York Republican who is chairman
of the House Committee on Science, said at a hearing on the
report today. "But we still have an obligation to ensure
that we are not needlessly alienating scholars from around
the world who could help this nation, and that we are not
unnecessarily hamstringing or burdening our universities
and research centers."

Administration officials said they recognized the need for
greater cooperation, and were taking steps to reduce the
delays. Asa Hutchinson, under secretary for border and
transportation security at the Department of Homeland
Security, said the administration's goal was to "remain a
welcoming nation to foreign scholars and scientists and not
compromise security requirements."

Some 586,000 overseas students enrolled in American
universities last year, and organizations representing
international students estimate they contribute more than
$11 billion to the United States economy. After the Sept.
11 attacks exposed a visa system in disarray, Congress
ordered an overhaul. It increased scrutiny of foreign
students, particularly those from countries deemed to pose
a risk to the United States, and imposed new restrictions
on students of science and technology that could be used in
making weapons.

The tougher screening has drawn criticism from some
scholars. Giorgio Agamben, an Italian professor of
philosophy and political theory, chose not to teach a
seminar at New York University, saying he could not accept
the use of finger and retinal printing or other biometric
scrutiny of visitors, like subcutaneous tattooing.

Catharine R. Stimpson, dean of the graduate school of arts
and science at N.Y.U., said the effects of the tougher visa
procedures were seen largely in the sciences. Applications
from Chinese students, she said, were down 50 percent this
year. "That's 400 students," she said.

The survey of universities, done by Mr. Johnson's
organization and others representing institutions of higher
education, found that 59 percent of some 130 research
universities and doctoral programs were seeing declines in
applications from overseas students, while 28 percent said
the number of foreign applications showed no significant
changes. About 11 percent said they saw an increase.

The survey also polled the 25 research and doctoral
institutions that enroll the most foreign students.
Nineteen responded, all saying their foreign applications
were down, most by more than 10 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/education/26VISA.html?ex=1078925993&ei=1&en=06f827887f0eb0ed 

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