LONDON CALLING

COMPETITION

WHEN THE United States clamped down on immigration in the wake of 9/11, among the most profoundly affected were American engineering and other science programs. As we reported in Prism in February, applications from abroad to U.S. graduate engineering schools declined 36 percent between 2003-2004. But America's loss has been a gain for engineering schools overseas. From London to Singapore to Sydney, engineering schools have seen enrollments soar as international students, discouraged by the glacial and labyrinthine American visa application process, increasingly head for greener campuses elsewhere.

Great Britain is the world's second most popular destination after the United States for foreign study. "The most profound increases between 2001 and 2003 have been from India and China," says Toshie Hidaka, education promotion manager, Japan, for the British Council. Indian and Chinese enrollments in all disciplines have jumped by about 80 percent, Hidaka notes. In 2004, Japanese exchange students in Great Britain were up 11 percent over the year before.

The U.S. State Department recently (February) relaxed its tough visa rules on foreign science students, announcing that existing visa holders will no longer be compelled to renew them annually. The move could hurt foreign schools. But educators in Singapore, which has been aggressively building a university system geared to expatriate students, aren't worried. "We have not seen a corresponding drop in foreign students choosing to study in Singapore," says Tracy Won, a spokeswoman for the island-state's Economic Development Board. Singapore aims to boost the current 60,000 foreign students studying there to 150,000 by 2012. Singapore's assets: A location seven hours or less from other Asian cities; a roster of alliances with name-brand universities, including engineering schools from M.LT. and Stanford; and a sweat-free visa process.-LUCILLE CRAFT

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Summer 2005
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