Foreign Student Enrollment Leveling in US

I was not surprised to read Foreign Enrollment Levels Off at U.S. Schools in the Washington Post today. The article reviews the drop in the growth rate of foreign students coming to the US for college from 6.4% to 0.6% over the past two years. I guess so many things have hinted at this recently that I just figured it was common knowledge.

The article cites a few reasons from a few sources of why this may be happening: visa restrictions, student registration delays, high costs, and increased competition. All of these affect TNE in one way or another. In a global economy, the best service at the best price should win out. No doubt many TNE providers in Europe, Australia, and Asia are looking to these obstacles as the sign of a good time to make serious inroads in this market.

However, while many annoyances do exist, the article also reports that the US still holds a position of favor among many students worldwide. "IIE President Allan E. Goodman said the data show that the United States remains 'the number one destination for foreign students' despite individual 'horror stories' about long visa lines and brusque consular officials. "

Perhaps "perceived value" is still as important as actual value. Whether colleges and universities in the US are a better value or not, if they are perceived by students (and more so by employers) worldwide as top-notch, they will continue to draw students.

Meanwhile, the US should not sit back if it wants to retain its position as a favorable education provider. The article makes this interesting observation: "Education represents a huge source of invisible exports for the United States, with economists estimating that the country earned nearly $13 billion last year from tuition fees, room and board, and other goods and services purchased by foreign students. According to the IIE, some large states such as California typically earn more from foreign students than they do from football and baseball combined."

These kinds of statistics have not gone unnoticed in places like Singapore. Although this tiny island is not making any money from football and baseball, Tom reported to me that they are positioning themselves to be the Southeast Asian hub for TNE, providing the living services and goods for students who go there to receive educational training – training coming from Australia, US, UK or anyone else that is providing this service in Singapore.

Which country will position itself to become just such a place for Europe? My bet is on Romania...

Coming to Understand TNE, Blogs, and Me

Whew! It's been a long time since the TNE blog published anything. Tom and I have both been busy, but not completely out of the loop. If I know Tom, he has been right in the action and probably has a pretty good pool of ideas just waiting to be molded in some tasty way.

I've been reading my daily online news sources, trying to make sense of this topic that is so immense, and I've struggled to come to grips with the essence of blogging itself. I thought I would break the silence by just noting a few impressions that I've had so far about the blogs in general, and then we'll get back to the topic at hand.

First, as a beginner in this field, I have struggled to understand how everything fits together. Wandering out into the land of transnational ed and GATS reminds me very much of my first few days in Seoul, Korea. It seemed like everyone around me knew what was going on and where everything was going and I just stood in the middle trying to figure out what everything meant. The only difference was I made no attempts to document the scene and made no pretense of understanding it.

Tom's challenge to try to keep up on TNE and its influence in Europe has left me feeling woefully inadequate. But more than that, I've come to respect those who can write their thoughts day in and day out in a clear, succinct manner. Some of the most widely read bloggers do this and it amazes me. Carefully crafting a post that is interesting and informative is a mammoth task, moreso when I feel like such a novice in this area.

The amount of information available is only increasing, and documenting (or just trying to making sense of) it all could well be a full-time job. The only way Tom and others like him can be so successful at writing intriguing things so often is that they live and breathe the subject matter. I'm working towards that and I hope my writing improves in course of time to reflect not only how much I have been in the subject matter, but how much it has become a part of me.