The 2004 Open Doors report should not have surprised anyone since it only documents what has been known for a while. Not only was it difficult for foreign students to come to the US, it was also no longer an attractive place to be. "The action is not here anymore," as one expert, who recently traveled to both China and India, and we spoke to recently describes it. Not only are multinational companies setting up shops there for high-end R&D, back-end support services, and even sales/marketing for emerging markets, the venture capitalists and investors are scouting for talent at university campuses there so that they can work with them to set up new companies.
Interestingly enough, the drop in the number of students by country of origin is directly related to how hot the economy there is. China is on top followed by India. Talking to many of my personal friends in Japan, which is third, I have learned that after 9/11 Japanese students are no longer confident that the US is a safe place for them to study. They are heading to Australia and New Zealand.
The decline in students is, of course, bad for the economy (particularly in university towns) because international students brought over $13 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in money spent on tuition, living expenses, and related costs, according to the Department of Commerce. The other ways in the US gets hurt is that there will be less teachers needed to teach and American competitiveness is threatened if we do not attract the best and brightest.
Suggestions for business leaders
Interestingly enough, the drop in the number of students by country of origin is directly related to how hot the economy there is. China is on top followed by India. Talking to many of my personal friends in Japan, which is third, I have learned that after 9/11 Japanese students are no longer confident that the US is a safe place for them to study. They are heading to Australia and New Zealand.
The decline in students is, of course, bad for the economy (particularly in university towns) because international students brought over $13 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in money spent on tuition, living expenses, and related costs, according to the Department of Commerce. The other ways in the US gets hurt is that there will be less teachers needed to teach and American competitiveness is threatened if we do not attract the best and brightest.
Suggestions for business leaders
- Make sure that you have subsidiaries set up outside the US to attract bright people, particularly engineers and analysts.
- Move high-quality work offshore so that you can provide meaningful employment opportunities and get the best and the brightest to work for you.
- Train them in the US if needed to make them more conversant with the American way of doing business.
Suggestions for universities and educational institutions
- Partner with local universities to offer programs for the students in China and India.
- Encourage student/professor exchanges.
- Invest in e-learning programs and promote it to overseas students.
Recommended article: American competitiveness threatened