U.S. institutions are becoming increasingly more enthusiastic about attracting international students - and that means you!

The first thing any citizen from outside of the U.S. notices, is how almost overwhelmingly large the American College and University sector is.

This huge size is reflected in the fact that thousands of international students travel to the United States each year to study undergraduate and graduate courses and programs. As such, the U.S. attracts more international students each year than any other two countries put together. In size alone, the U.S. is the educational version of a superpower.

Part of the attraction of the U.S. is not just the variety and quality of courses/programs, but the serious effort American Colleges and Universities make to ensure that international students succeed and enjoy their time in America.

Most establishments of any size and reputation (but not all) have Foreign Student Advisors on campus. These individuals (often in a specific foreign student office) spend the majority of their time ensuring the academic success of students, as well as taking a high profile interest in students' social and cultural welfare.

NAFSA Association of International Educators www.nafsa.org/, give a good insight as to how these advisors see their function, both as individuals and as part of a national group.

Besides being professional officers involved in the administration of fees, visa applications and all the regulations that any travelling student has to be aware of, these advisors also spent a large proportion of their time on social factors affecting international students.

Subjects included understanding individual cultures and the requirements students from those cultures have. So discussion included diet, religious provision, equal opportunity, as well as individual country by country links and contacts.

To anyone from outside America, the American ability to discuss almost anything openly, logically and with a genuine desire to help, can appear impressively off-putting to those of us from shyer more restrained cultures. Yet impressive is the right word. Coping with urban life, differing attitudes to race, women's right and even normally socially taboo subjects such as sexually transmitted diseases was all part of a much wider general debate and exchange on an even greater range of subjects.

The overwhelming impression of these foreign student advisors as a group and individually is that they really do care that international students achieve academic success and enjoy their time in America.

This is perhaps not that surprising, all countries that attract large numbers of students have similar motivations - but what may be special about American institutions is the vigor with which they are currently applying themselves to achieving this.

Americans have consistently spent more of their income on higher education than any other industrialized economy. As a result, institutions are used to having to continually justify their programs on a value for money basis. Further to this, they also have a higher percentage of their population attending higher education. Consequently, in the past the U.S. has almost recruited international students as an accidental bonus. This is changing.

Even so, even with the large number of international students attending, America still has less of a percentage of international students at individual institutions. Thus, the Americans are keen to attract more international students to all levels.

International students have previously concentrated on American programs/courses in Business and Administration as well as Engineering. New areas of interest seem to include the 2-year programs run by many colleges (that can lead onto full degrees with a partner university), along with vocational/career based programs. Postgraduate study also seems to be of a high caliber and set for increased applications from around the world. (More on these specific sectors and other programs in following issues).

In terms of competition, the Americans now realize that international students have a huge choice available to them, in a wide range of countries. They have always been aware that fees need to be competitive, and with the world in recession, many institutions around the world are looking very competitive in terms of the fees they charge.

As a starting point, international students should take advantage of this desire of American Colleges and Universities to become more international. With the variety of programs and institutions you must also take advantage of their openness and ask specific questions. How are their courses accredited, what are the fees for both tuition and residence (if applicable), do they set aside accommodation for international students, what links does an individual institution have with other institutions, what further programs will you be allowed to apply for if you complete your first program?

Finally, perhaps the first question you should ask is "do you have a foreign student advisor/office?" If you start there you should get straight answers to straight questions - so do not be afraid to ask!

Author
Paul Weller