Notes

International students have become a hot global commodity. Governments and institutions of higher education worldwide have begun putting in place policies and programs to draw the very brightest international students. Tony Blair, for example, announced in 2006 that he was putting in place a package of incentives to make Britain an even more attractive destination for international students. This represented the second phase of an initiative launched in 1999 to increase the number of non-European students studying in the U.K. In Australia, a governmental agency, Australian Education International, works in coordination with universities to streamline efforts to attract international students. In the U.S., the Institute of International Educators recently issued a report titled "Restoring U.S. Competitiveness for International Students and Scholars," which calls for the federal government to develop a national recruiting strategy for international students and to make far-reaching changes in the immigration regulations and visa procedures as they impact this recruitment.

There are numerous factors behind the surge of interest in international students. At the national level, there is the recognition that international students have historically played an important role in advancing America's research competitiveness in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Whereas the best American-born students have tended to gravitate to careers in business and law, the first-choice careers of their counterparts from countries such as China and India is often in engineering and the sciences. The advancement of scientific research and technology therefore has relied disproportionately on foreign-born talent. There is also a feeling that international students, having lived and studied in the United States, often become excellent ambassadors of American culture when they return to their home countries. This is seen as an important step in enhancing the image of the U.S. overseas, and by extension, U.S. security.

At the scale of universities and colleges, there has been an increasing recognition that our graduates will be competing in an international labor market and need to become comfortable in working with students from different parts of the world. The term "global competency" is often used to describe this quality. Many research universities are also seeking to build their international research/knowledge capacity. International students, with their links to researchers in their home countries, serve as excellent conduits to build international scholarly networks

Foreign students play several important roles for a University. They contribute varied perspectives to the experience of all students and enhance our long tradition of having students learn from one another. Students from abroad are also important in our research mission, particularly in science and engineering, where there continues to be a shortage of U.S. students—a topic I hope to address in a future column.A number of international students embrace the spirit of the new policies and understand increased security concerns but are deeply concerned about the unintended consequences some of the policies are having on their ability to get into the country. They also contribute enormously to maintaining U.K. leadership in science and technology. Moreover, many of these students return home better informed about our way of life.

Finally, the interest in internationalization has also come from individual departments and programs. There are very clear pedagogical benefits to having international students in the classroom. Their presence enriches class discussions as the students share their experiences and stories from a different culture. It can also help shatter stereotypes and open otherwise "taboo" discussions. These reasons are clearly shown the importance of international students for a university.