On this first work day of the new year my inbox has filled with Google Alerts linking to articles on two important issues related to international education. In case you are busy and haven’t been able to follow the news:
1. Sad news out of Australia is that a twenty-one year old student from India was stabbed and killed in a park over the weekend while walking to work in Melbourne. You can read more about the incident and the ripple effects here. Violence against Indian students in Australia was a very hot topic in 2009 in both India and Australia. On July 15th I asked on IHEC Blog “has the recent violence against Indian students in Australia had an effect on Indian American students’ decision to study abroad in Australia?” which you can read here.
2. The aftermath of the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a Delta Airlines flight to Detroit has set in motion new and intense screening procedures at airports worldwide for citizens from 14 nations. Citizens from the four “state sponsors of terrorism” and nine “countries of interest” will now be required to “undergo full-body pat downs and will face extra scrutiny of their carry-on bags before they can board planes to the United States. In some countries that have more advanced screening equipment, travelers will also be required to pass through so-called whole-body scanners that can look beneath clothing for hidden explosives or weapons, or may be checked with a device that can find tiny traces of explosives.”[1] You can read more about these new security measures here.
These two issues will no doubt effect international education exchange in Australia, India and the United States.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/us/04webtsa.html
