With a Massachusetts law prohibiting driving with a gorilla in the back seat of your car, a president who invented the urinal and the world’s only hamburger museum, who wouldn’t want to go to school in America?
While almost 25 percent of international students still choose the United States as their number one destination, according to the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” many other countries such as Britain, Australia, Germany, France and Japan are growing tremendously in popularity and might surpass the United States if the trend continues.
Yang Zhong, interim director for the Center of International Education, said the country peaked in 2002 to 2003 at around 582,000 foreign students. This number dropped to 572,000 the following year and continues to drop.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 play a large part in this dramatic downturn in international student admittance, Zhong said.
“One of the major reasons is obviously the visa,” he said. “Since September 11, the rules about granting students an international visa have changed. They have become more restricting and understandably for Middle Eastern students.”
Zhong also said the Tennessee lottery plays a big role in curbing the international numbers. With more Tennessee students applying to The University of Tennessee, enrollment has become more competitive.
Joann Ng Hartmann, assistant director of International Student Services, said Tennessee education legislation limiting the number of international students does not help the problem.
“The state legislature mandates that we can only have between 10 and 15 percent out-of-state and international students at the university,” she said. “And with 4,400 freshmen, you don’t have the facilities and such for any more international students.”
Another factor turning international study to other countries is that students coming to the United States are facing higher tuition.
“Another downside is out-of-state tuition,” Hartmann said. “With UT having increased 8 to 10 percent for about the last four years, I feel that we’re pricing ourselves out of the international student market.”
What’s more, the countries against which America is competing have more open-door policies and fewer restrictions on incoming students.
“I know that Britain, Australia and Canada are opening their doors and welcoming many international students,” Zhong said. “They regard education sometimes as a business enterprise. Those countries are also English-speaking countries, which makes them more popular.”
Many international students have not only studied but also worked in the American work force. But if the downward trend continues, Zhong said, America’s pool of international talent will begin to dwindle.
“It’s a very valuable asset because with a knowledge-based economy, you want to have talent,” he said. “So you need those talented people from overseas. It’s kind of a brain drain for developing countries for us to have all the talent, and they don’t like our popularity.”
With a diminished talent pool, America will then begin to lose its grip on the global economy, Zhong said before Hartmann added what UT is doing to solve the problem.
“In one word: nothing,” she said. “I’ve been here for nine years and that’s always been the case. As far as international undergraduates, there has not been any organized recruiting here at UT.”
International student recruitment occurs mostly on an individual or family basis for undergraduate students and on a departmental level for graduate students. But with about 700 of UT’s 900 international students in grad school, undergraduate diversity is suffering.
“We’re hoping that with this ‘Ready for the World’ initiative, we will get some recognition and funding for recruitment,” Hartmann said. “I hope that we will have a recruitment plan because international students have different needs with a new country and a new language. It’s a little harder to apply here for these students.”
But with a thinning higher education budget, there doesn’t seem to be much hope in sight. Though there are one or two scholarships for international students, there aren’t enough incentives for students to attend UT, Hartmann said.
“It costs a whole lot to invest in these recruiting trips and fairs,” she said. “And when you’re an international student and you see in movies and read in the magazines about these big cities, that’s where they want to go. UT is at a disadvantage because of its location.”
However, both Hartmann and Zhong, along with the entire department, hope the international student budget and accessibility issue will improve as Ready for the World continues to progress.
