The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/97839.html



Editorial: Welcome, students

U.S. steps up exchange efforts



December 26, 2006

The United States seems to be recovering ground in its post-Sept. 11 decline in the number of foreign students studying at U.S. colleges and universities.

U.S. campuses still have 21,557 fewer foreign students than in 2002-2003, but the decline seems to have slowed. The Institute of International Education reports that enrollment decreased only slightly last year (by 273 students). And the State Department reports that visas for new students are up.

Before 2001, enrollments had been increasing each year for more than 30 years, a key part of U.S. diplomacy. Then came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and an overreaction in tightening access. Visas became hard to get. The international perception was that the United States had become unwelcoming to foreign students.

Worse was the erosion of the U.S. image abroad after the invasion of Iraq, erasing post-Sept. 11 goodwill. As America's image fell, universities in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada stepped up their enrollments of international students.

The Bush administration seems finally to have realized that security-related delays were having the unintended consequence of discouraging student visa applicants. The federal government has reduced processing times from weeks or months (or sometimes never) to fewer than 14 days. (There are still occasional, highly publicized instances of foreign scholars being denied a visa or turned away when they arrive at a U.S. airport, even with a visa.)

After prodding by American colleges and universities, the Bush administration also has launched more aggressive recruiting efforts abroad. A delegation of 12 American college and university presidents went to Japan, Korea and China, and the U.S. government placed an advertising campaign on Chinese television to promote higher education opportunities in the United States. Trips to Latin America and South Asia are planned for the first half of 2007.

All of this is encouraging.

Since the Cold War years, the United States has actively promoted international educational exchange as a way to champion long-term understanding and give foreign students a chance to experience our way of life firsthand. American students, too, have benefited by having a door to other cultures.

The door, at last, is opening wider again.