Foreign students flock to the US [The Boston Globe]

By Peter Schworm, The Boston Globe

The faltering US dollar, which has steadily lost value against major currencies around the world, has produced a silver lining for foreign students, and the American universities that recruit them.

With every dip in the exchange rate, the cost of college for many foreign students has dropped in kind, a discount that has contributed to a surge in demand for Boston-area colleges and universities, college administrators, consultants, and higher education specialists say.

“Everyone wants an American education, but for many families the cost has been prohibitive,” said Marguerite Dennis, vice president for enrollment and international programs at Suffolk University, which attributes a sharp rise in international enrollment this fall to the exchange rate. “But now, the dollar has made coming here so much more attractive and realistic.”

Widely considered the worldwide gold standard for higher education, American universities have suddenly emerged as a bargain for a growing number of international students, whose yen, rupees, and pounds go much further than they used to. The influx is expected to reverse the declines in foreign student enrollment that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We know as a general proposition that worldwide economic trends impact student flows,” said Victor Johnson, senior adviser for public policy for NAFSA: Association of International Educators. “If people are coming here for a couple of days to do nothing but buy a new wardrobe, it would be strange if the exchange rate didn’t affect their educational decisions.”

Many colleges in Massachusetts and across the country report sharp increases in applications and acceptances from international students for the coming school year, especially from India, China, and European countries.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst expects a roughly 20 percent increase in new international students this fall, while Northeastern University will enroll 17 percent more students than last year’s class. Foreign students will comprise nearly one-quarter of Babson College’s incoming class, after a 67 percent rise in their ranks.

“We’ve stepped up recruiting, and the dollar has certainly played a role,” said Grant Gosselin, Babson’s dean of undergraduate admission. “As the dollar decreases in value, American colleges become that much more attractive.” [Click here to read the full story]

International Exposure Leads UW Student to Form Innovative Student Group on Stem Cell Research

By Dana Bedessem, Division of International Studies

Bundled-up students file into the Paul Ebling Symposium Center with wind-burnt red cheeks and noses, brushing off the snow before finding a seat among the crowd. The auditorium is loud with chatter - mostly about the blizzard they had all just braved to make it to this special event. The lights go down and a wave of silence rolls across the auditorium. Adrenaline pumping music booms through the walls and a series of sharply colored power point slides begins with, “We’re here to make a difference, to make things better, to educate ourselves, each other, and the WORLD.” The momentum rolls on and the crowd is mesmerized.

Blame this hypnotic state on the ambition and passion of UW-Madison senior Adam Ericsen and his new student organization, Discussions on Advancing Regenerative Therapies (DART). UW-Madison is leading the country in stem cell research and its companion fields under the world renowned research of Gabriela Cezar (picture at right), Clive Svendsen, James Thomson and other faculty. Ericsen founded DART under the teachings of these scientists. The four initiatives of DART are: education and outreach, classroom outreach, to provide a constructive outlet for ambition, and to develop international research prospectives. DART aims to provide every student, despite their major, with the international resources to conduct regenerative research and ask questions to find their own answers while bridging the gap between professors and students.

“It’s student organizations like DART that are necessary for undergraduate students to take the first step in realizing their own full potential,” says Dean of the Division of International Studies, Gilles Bousquet. “Today that potential must entail a significant degree of global competence that DART encourages.”