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Academic Achievements
International exchange furthers academic achievements, particularly in science and technology. According to Mary Good, the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the sharing of information is essential to all nations and especially to scientific achievement.
Scientific papers authored by scientists from more than one country have risen 200 percent from 1981-1995, according to NAFSA, Association of International Educators. In 1997, international collaboration accounted for almost one-third of all co-authored articles.
In the United States, many engineering, science and technology programs are filled with non-U.S. students. In fact, foreign graduate students have helped many U.S. universities maintain valuable research programs when enough U.S. applicants weren't available.
International students continue to play an important role in our nation's economic growth upon graduation. In 1998, an estimated one-quarter of senior executives in Silicon Valley are Chinese and Indian engineers educated in the United States. Overall, foreign-born scientists and engineers accounted for more than one-third of Silicon Valley's workforce. That number is expected to increase over the next few years.
In 1999, the U.S. successes in Nobel Prizes in science were attributed to four scientists, all foreign-born. At the 2000 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISE), the U.S. representative was a young woman born in Romania.
Important Investment
Despite all these benefits, the United States government invests very little in supporting international exchange. According to the U.S. State Department, less than one penny of every dollar in federal spending goes towards international education programs. This is in sharp contrast to Britain, Germany, Australia and other nations, who have launched national policies to increase the number of foreign students in their countries.
"Relatively few Americans understand how small a portion of the federal budget is devoted to international affairs," said Evelyn Lieberman, the former Under Secretary at the U.S. State Department. "We need to better explain the economic growth that results . . . from the presence of international students."
The Boston Globe agreed, writing: "If there is one frugal investment government can make to help Americans adapt to the age of global integration, it is to support exchange programs."
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