Thread: Bush promises to improve visa policy for overseas students

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858, ... 78,00.html

Liz Ford
Friday January 6, 2006

Guardian Unlimited
The US president, George Bush, yesterday promised university heads that his government will do more to make the country attractive to overseas students.

Mr Bush said he understood the "frustrations" felt by universities which have witnessed a decline in the number of foreign students studying in the US since visa controls were tightened in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Drawing applause from more than 120 university presidents and representatives from higher education associations and societies, Mr Bush said it was "in our national interest" to create a balance between security concerns and the country's need for more overseas students.

"We want young kids from around the world coming to our universities," he said. "It's in our national interest that we solve visa issues... We have been calibrating the proper balance after September 11, and I fully understand some of your frustrations, particularly when you say the balance wasn't actually calibrated well.

"But we're going to get it right, because the more youngsters who come to America to get educated, the more likely it is people in the world will understand the true nature of America."

Mr Bush used his opening address to a two-day summit on international education to also outline a new national security language strategy, which he said would be vital in the fight against terrorism.

The $114m (£65m) initiative aims to strengthen the teaching of "critical need" languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Farsi in nurseries, schools and universities and among those working in the military and intelligence services.

According to state figures, less than 2% of high school students in the US currently study one of these languages and less than 8% of undergraduates take any foreign language course at university.

The funding, which will be formally requested in next year's budget proposals and will be channelled through the departments of education, state and defence and through the director of national intelligence, will be used to encourage more people to teach these non-traditional languages, develop study programmes in schools, and provide scholarships to allow more students to study abroad.

The Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant programme will be expanded to allow 300 native speakers of critical languages to teach in US schools and universities. A $13.2m (£7.5m) programme with the aim of producing 2,000 advanced speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Persian, Hindi and central Asian languages by 2009, will be added to the country's national flagship language initiative.

Mr Bush said the strategy was a "broad-gauged initiative" that dealt with the "defence of the country, the diplomacy of the country, the intelligence to defend our country, and the education of our people".

He said frontline soldiers needed to be able to effectively communicate with people in the overseas communities in which they serve.

"In order for this country to be able to convince others, people have got to be able to see our true worth in our heart. And when Americans learn to speak a language, learn to speak Arabic, those in the Arabic region will say, gosh, America is interested in us. They care enough to learn how we speak."

Prior to the summit, some academics had expressed concerns over the plans to source a large chunk of the money from the defence department for military training programmes, but the president of the American Council on Education, David Ward, reportedly told the website InsideHigherEd.com that "if we're going to do anything in higher education in the next 20 years, we'll have to tap more than one source of revenue".

The president of Oakton community college, in Illinois, Peg Lee, said she was encouraged that the president was placing an emphasis on foreign languages.

"

But we're going to get it right

Right, he!!. Even thinking about such an idiotic thing is preposterous.

He said frontline soldiers needed to be able to effectively communicate with people in the overseas communities in which they serve.

So is he planning to declare war on speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Persian, Hindi and central Asian languages? Or just make sure the US keeps "serving" all these countries.

According to state figures, less than 2% of high school students in the US currently study one of these languages

No duh! They're too busy studying spanish.

less than 8% of undergraduates take any foreign language course at university.

Doesn't sound right to me since most high school have to have a foreign language to be admitted to most colleges.

Another piece of the puzzle. The NC legislature approved this past summer

Section 9.27.(a) of Session Law 2005-276 allows nonresident students on full scholarships who accept admission to a UNC school on or after July 1, 2005 to be “considered residents of North Carolina for all purposes by The University of North Carolina�.

Each of the 16 schools have the option to get on this gravy train. According to Senator Atwater's office in an email in mid-November:

Thus far, only the Trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill have given the go ahead to participate in this tuition program. The estimates for UNC-CH nonresident students and associated tuition loss is as follows:

06-07 $2.79 million 202 students
07-08 $5.66 million 410 students
08-09 $9.19 million 666 students
09-10 $12.21 million 885 students

I found this out from a news report that said UNC-CH is expected to have 400 of these students for 2006/7. How will this be paid for you ask? How will each campus handle any loss of revenue?

An October 4, 2005 memo from President Molly Broad to the Chancellors stated that legislative leadership instructed the campuses to request an additional appropriation for these students as part of their enrollment growth funds in 2006. For example, UNC-Chapel Hill’s tuition loss will be replaced with a General Fund appropriation in the 2006 Short Session

And where does the "General Fund" come from?

"In order for this country to be able to convince others, people have got to be able to see our true worth in our heart. And when Americans learn to speak a language, learn to speak Arabic, those in the Arabic region will say, gosh, America is interested in us. They care enough to learn how we speak."

Honestly, can anybody really be this stupid?

They're going to peer into our heart and say "gosh, America is interested in us"?

Gosh, I fell real warm and fuzzy now.