By now, three classes later, Berkeley has seen its enrollment of graduate students from abroad drop by one-third. A national survey by the Council of Graduate Schools determined that admissions of international students at 125 universities fell by an average of 18 percent in the last year alone. Both the Berkeley and national studies found that the students most affected were not only those from Islamic countries, but from China, as well as such American allies as India, South Korea and Israel.
Although the article showcases a number of anecdotal situations, it is easy to believe that enrollment of graduate programs by foreign students have dropped due to national security concerns. Can you imagine losing your chance to finish your PhD from Berkeley just because you had to visit your family in China and could not return because of visa delays?
At a conference that I attended a few months ago, one of the speakers, a reknowned scientist in his field, did not attend because of visa problems. I suspect that this is now common in international conferences. Nonetheless, not being able to attend a conference is a minor problem compared to being dropped from a doctoral program completely. Problems like these will undoubtedly affect a number of US industries, leading to shortages of staff supplying the intellectual investment needed for companies to survive.
Posted by johnvu at October 27, 2004 01:12 PM