NAFSA Statement: H-1B Visas

NAFSA: Association of International Educators issued the following statement on H-1B visas today:

Tomorrow, employers may begin filing applications for the 65,000 H-1B visas that are available for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins October 1. Those that are successful will be able to hire skilled foreigners—many of whom are graduating from U.S. universities with degrees in science, mathematics, and engineering—to help their companies remain cutting-edge and create jobs for Americans. If history is a guide, these visas will be snapped up within days, and many highly qualified individuals from other countries will be forced to take their skills, their drive, and their entrepreneurial spirit elsewhere.

As America and the world fall deeper into recession, it is important to break free of the rhetoric of the political debate and refocus on the fundamentals. One fundamental is that talent is always a scarce resource. There is not enough of it to go around, and every country needs more of it. Talent is also, in today’s world, highly mobile. Our economy is part of a global economy, and our job market is part of a global job market. In such a market, employers look for the talent they need wherever they can find it, and students and skilled workers look for the places to study and work that offer them the most opportunity.

To turn away individuals with skills that we need, who want to live and work in America, under the illusion that by doing so we are protecting our economy, is to deny ourselves a resource that we need to help pull us out of the recession and put our economy on a sound footing for the future. It will cost jobs, not save them.

This association is dedicated to promoting the mobility of students and scholars across borders. The advantages of attracting these individuals to our country are well known: they are a key part of the pipeline of skilled talent from outside our borders that fuels our economy; they help our universities prepare the next generation of American college graduates for the jobs of tomorrow; and they connect us to leadership and innovation around the world. Yet we cannot be successful in the competition for these students and scholars if they know that the only way they will be able to accept jobs after graduation—with employers who need them and want to hire them—is to win the H-1B lottery.

People the world over—people with big dreams and the entrepreneurial spirit to pursue them—want to come to the United States because they know it is here that they can realize their dreams. So it has been since the first Pilgrims sailed—and so it must continue to be. Skilled immigrants fuel innovation in America. The H-1B visa system is one path for them to get here; that path needs to be open. Yes, H-1B visas are sometimes abused, and where abuses exist, they must be stopped. No one supports measures to protect the program’s integrity more strongly than its proponents. But a cap on talent is self-defeating.

We call on the 111th Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Such reform should include the removal or adjustment of unrealistic caps on temporary and permanent employment-based visa categories, which include H-1B visas and green cards. If Congress chooses not to address immigration reform comprehensively, these measures must be enacted separately. Unclogging the path to permanent residency for skilled immigrants will relieve the pressure on H-1B visas. However, these visas will still be necessary for those for whom temporary status is appropriate. Either way, America wins.

Many thanks to Andy Amsler at NAFSA for this information which was also sent to all NAFSA members via NAFSA.news.

Spreading of Colonial Influence Abroad via the Peace Corps

I recently came across an interesting article from March 12th written by Spencer Janyck in the WhitmanCollegePioneer entitled “The Peace Corps Spreads Colonial Influence Abroad”. Spencer writes “The United States has a long and sorbid history of colonization and destruction of other people and other ways of life that we have deemed “inappropriate” and “savage”…I see the Peace Corps largely as modern-day missionaries, taking up the civilized man’s burden and traveling abroad to teach others precisely what’s wrong with their societies.”

Just under two weeks ago I posted part of a promotional video from March 1961 of President Kennedy outlining the Peace Corps Program. The first time I watched/listened to the video I was taken aback by something the commentator said within the first 25 seconds of the video. Specifically, part of the video that stated “interest in President Kennedy’s proposed Peace Corps continues to rise among American youth. Here are the forerunners of the Peace Corps, American exchange students now overseas in backwards and depressed areas of the world…” made we stop to think “backwards in the eyes of whom?”

I fully support the Peace Corps and have blogged about it a few times on this blog. I wanted to post about this interesting view about the Peace Corps to see what IHEC Blog readers think. Where do you stand on the Peace Corps?

Road Map for Graduate Study: A Guide for Prospective Graduate Students

I thought some of the IHEC Blog readers who are considering graduate school may find this new book Road Map for Graduate Study: A Guide for Prospective Students by Donald Martin to be particularly helpful as you embark on your next educational journey. Martin, who has held Associate Dean positions at Teachers College at Columbia University and the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, gives readers an insider’s perspective on:

Getting started (doing research on graduate institutions)
Getting in (going through the application process)
Getting out (successfully completing your program of study)
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) of inquirers, applicants, admitted and enrolled students
And features: Ten Tips on the Application Process; Seven Deadly Sins for Applicants; and, Seven Ways to get Positively Noticed as an Applicant.

You can learn more about the book and order a copy here.

Increase in English Instruction Decreases the Quality of Dutch Higher Education

I just read a very interesting article (in English) from March 20th on the NRC Handelsblad website about the concern among many Dutch intellectuals on the increased use of English in Dutch higher education. According the article, the idea to make English the official language of instruction in Dutch universities was first proposed by Jo Ritzen, Education Minister, back in 1990.

Following is a snippet from the article that I found interesting:

Internationalisation is the magic word everywhere. Education has become an export product and a university’s competitiveness is measured, particularly by the executive boards, by the number of foreign students it hosts. At many faculties, deans are charged with tasks like organising partnerships and student and faculty exchange programmes with universities around the world.

“It is part of globalisation,” says Gerry Wakker, deputy dean of education and internationalisation in Groningen. "More and more people are working abroad for a long or short time or they are studying there for a year. We prepare them for that by creating groups of students that are as mixed as possible."

I encourage IHEC Blog readers to check out this article here. What do you think about this trend in Dutch higher education?

NAFSA Task Force on Standards and Responsibilities (1980)

As I was searching my research notes I came across something that I thought IHEC Blog readers who enjoy a little history with their international education may find interesting. The following is a description of the NAFSA Task Force on Standards and Responsibilities from the early 1980’s:

“NAFSA convened the Task Force on Standards and Responsibilities in early 1980. This task force considered many alternatives. It acknowledged that self-regulation was more desirable than government regulation of standards of practice. It also considered and rejected a program of accreditation that would first formally endorse programs that met established standards and then police them through periodic evaluation and any necessary censure. What the task force finally chose was a complete program of self-regulation, which involved endorsement by the NAFSA board and support by other major educational associations and agencies. As part of the new program, NAFSA published “Principles for International Educational Exchange” in 1981 for endorsement by all NAFSA members. The Principles were also formally endorsed by the Commission on International Education of the American Council on Education, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and Land Grant Colleges. In 1983, NAFSA published the first edition of this self-study guide with dealt with the principles.”[1]


This is just one of the efforts in the field of study abroad to develop a set of standards of good practice. You can learn more about this in the chapter I'm writing with my colleague Martha Merritt on the assessment of and standards for study abroad in the forthcoming A History of US Study Abroad: 1965 to the Present edited by Stephen DePaul and William Hoffa which is scheduled for publication later this year.


You may also be interested in the History of Standards of Good Practice in Education Abroad Bibliography I compiled last year for the 3rd edition of the Forum on Education Abroad Standards of Good Practice in Education Abroad.

[1] Description obtained from NAFSA Self-Study Guide: The Assessment of Programs and Services for International Educational Exchange at Postsecondary Institutions (1994) written by Harriet L. Marsh.

Another Call for Exchanges with North Korea

In the March 20, 2009 issue of the Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, Bruce Klingner argues that North Korea may be the most intractable foreign policy challenge facing President Barack Obama. Klingner offers several policy suggestions for the U.S. to consider beyond the six-party talks including, but not limited to, expanding public diplomacy efforts including facilitating “formal student and cultural exchange programs.”

You can access this interesting issue of the Backgrounder here.

Please visit here for a recent and similar IHEC Blog post focusing on educational and cultural exchanges with North Korea.

Promoting Study Abroad in the STEM Fields

IIE recently released Issue 5 in their Study Abroad White Paper Series. This 5th White Paper entitled Promoting Study Abroad in Science and Technology Fields builds on their previous titles:

Expanding U.S. Study Abroad in the Arab World: Challenges and Opportunities
Expanding Education Abroad at U.S. Community Colleges
Exploring Host Country Capacity for Increasing U.S. Study Abroad
Current Trends in U.S. Study Abroad & the Impact of Strategic Diversity Initiatives

You can access all of IIE’s Study Abroad White Paper Series here.