http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/09/US_colleges_scour_China_for_top_students/UPI-93521226256390/ BEIJING, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Harvard, Stanford and other top U.S. colleges say they're actively recruiting China's best high school students and offering them full scholarships. Recruiting the best Chinese students will help elite U.S. colleges maintain international dominance, especially in math and science, said William Fitzsimmons, Harvard's admissions dean. "There are no quotas, no limits on the number of Chinese students we might take," Fitzsimmons told more than 300 students during a recent visit to a high school in Beijing. College applications from China have increased dramatically in recent years as the Communist country opened to the world, The Boston Globe reported Sunday, noting that's disconcerting news to U.S. students seeking a coveted spot at top colleges at home. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/schools-recruit-in-china/376062088/?icid=VIDLRVNWS08
I think this is a good thing. It will make US students more competitive in the classroom and eventually in the workplace.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672811446488841.html By PAUL DANOS, MATTHEW J. SLAUGHTER and ROBERT G. HANSEN Thanks to the Employ American Workers Act (EAWA), which was folded into the stimulus bill, it's become harder for companies getting government support to hire skilled immigrants with H-1B visas -- they'll have to show they haven't laid off or plan to lay off an American from a similar occupation. Supporters say the law will help U.S.-born workers and stimulate our economy, but this is just wrong. The economy is not of fixed size, in which more foreign-born workers necessarily mean fewer U.S. workers. Productive foreign-born workers can help create more jobs here. Keeping them out damages us. Start with the damage to companies that have received money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Over 400 firms now face a sharply curtailed talent pool, precisely when they need visionary talent to rebuild amidst the world's most severe economic crisis in decades. Without the best talent, ultimately they'll create fewer jobs. There is also indirect, unforeseen damage that's beginning to appear in higher education. In 2007, the U.S. exported $15.7 billion in educational services and, consistent with our strong comparative advantage in education, ran a trade surplus of $11.2 billion. America has built the world's most dynamic university system largely by welcoming foreign scholars and students. This year at our own Tuck School of Business in Hanover, N.H., 31% of tenured and tenure-track professors and over 35% of MBA candidates are foreign born. That dynamism is now in question. Here at Tuck -- and at many fellow business schools as well -- several foreign-born students had their job offers rescinded in response to EAWA. If foreign-born students cannot legally work here after earning their degrees, fewer will enroll. Foreign-born MBA candidates often choose to study in America because they aim to apply what they learn from our world-class schools right here. The same is true across the academic fields: According to the National Science Foundation, 42% of Ph. D. science and engineering workers in the U.S. today are foreign born. A reverse brain-drain caused by EAWA means that Tuck's U.S.-born students will endure a poorer classroom environment. Tuck and other schools will face a less-dynamic campus -- and eventually fewer jobs here as a result. Some schools will suffer declining enrollments, with commensurate declines in overall U.S. higher-education exports. And where will all these foreign-born students go? To countries whose leaders recognize their job-creation potential and shape policy accordingly. For example, current British immigration policy welcomes an unlimited supply of the world's best and brightest business minds. Since 2004, the U.K. Highly Skilled Migrant Programme has maintained a list of 50 of the world's top business schools. Anyone who earns an MBA from a business school on this list is automatically eligible to work in the U.K. for at least one year. Quite apart from their contributions to higher education, skilled immigrants have long contributed to American jobs and standards of living. They bring ideas for new technologies and new companies. And they bring connections to business opportunities abroad, stimulating exports and affiliate sales for multinational companies. Turning away skilled immigrants will hurt, not help, the U.S. It is unlikely that supporters of the Employ American Workers Act saw the link from jobs at companies receiving TARP money to enrollments at American universities and graduate schools. But we ignore at our peril the indirect yet significant harm done by laws that try to wall America off from the global economy. Today U.S. colleges and universities are suffering. Who will be next? And who in Washington will have the wisdom and courage to change course? Mr. Danos is dean, and Messrs. Slaughter and Hansen are associate deans, at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.
I don't have a problem with this. I would like to see the Chinese students mingle more with their US counterparts once they arrive on campus. I think the language barrier is really tough for them
From personal experience, I can tell you that Chinese students fresh from the mainland are REALLY nice, exceptionally polite and hard-working. I really don't think the culture shock works out for them too well though. One thing I've noticed (and it really applies to all groups of people in general but especially to Chinese) is that they really tend to bunch up and every time you talk with them, they never go TOO in-depth with you, it's more of like a "yes sir, no sir, oh will you look at the weather!" type of conversation. Probably a result of the atmosphere back home or maybe I'm just unfriendly, who knows. Out of all the campus groups though, I'd say they're one of the ones that mingle with everyone else the least. Really smart people though. Also, a huge amount of them are Rockets fans and they LOVE basketball...so good, good stuff.
China is teeming with human potential. It's our job to grab the brightest now before the situation as a whole in China becomes so favorable that students would prefer to stay there, sort of what is now happening in increasing larger amounts in India.
"Sir, you can't let them in here. They'll see everything. They'll see the big board!" Where's General "Buck" Turgidson when you need him?
If I were Beijing, I would be really ambivalent about this. On one hand, this is flat out stealing China's best crops out of its educational program. It's one thing that students voluntarily choose to apply for US colleges, it's another that US colleges actively market in China. On the other hand, Beijing might have to hope US will be great training program for China for the future. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, the trend is most of their top students return to the homeland after several year education and work experiences in US. But then US does provide a very attractive opportunities for best Chinese students. Most of them as of right are staying in US for good, not going back.
I think Jjae's point is that without issuing more visas, we're pretty much giving them a great education and then sending them back to China. It's a damn shame the stimulus package was "America first" oriented against skilled immigrants because this will bite us in the ass in the long run if we don't lift up the visa restrictions and quotas.
Quota is a pretense, it is there to restrict non-essential foreign workers. For US's interest, this is a great move by and large. US is getting best prospects China has to offer for free. The open door immigration policy and great opportunities it provides sets US apart from the rest of World.
Don't confuse immigration policy with "illegal" border crossing. Without open door immigration policy of this country none of us would be talking as a citizen.
We arent talking about skilled immigrants. Why would US colleges scour other countries for talent to develop and ignore the ones at home. Isnt it more beneficial in the short and long run to develop homegrown talent (and there are lots of it). What am I missing?
Even if their .01% were qualified for the program, that's still 500k students. Plus college recruiters can target what field they want. American students mostly follow fields where the money takes them.
