Education USA in Taiwan

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

2012-02-14T08:20:00.000+08:00

Founded in 1889, The University of New Mexico now occupies 600 acres along old Route 66 in the heart of Albuquerque. The University is the state’s flagship research institution. UNM research injects millions of dollars into New Mexico’s economy, funds new advancements in healthcare, and augments teaching – giving students valuable hands-on training in state-of-the art laboratories. The university offers more than 210 degree and certificate programs, UNM has 94 bachelor’s degrees, 74 master’s degrees and 40 doctoral programs.

The Amigo Scholarship program, formally designated as the Competitive Scholarship Program by the New Mexico Department of Higher Education, allows qualified international graduate students to pay in-state tuition rates (including differential tuition) and receive a $200.00 stipend per academic year if they meet the eligibility criteria. The Amigo Scholarship is a tuition-specific award and does not convert to a cash award if the recipient’s tuition is covered by other means, such as an assistantship or scholarship.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/zfdlTS

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2012-02-10T13:52:00.000+08:00

Founded in 1870, our iconic campus is nestled amongst the rolling hills of Central New York—itself a crucible of historic change and progress. Building on that foundation, SU continues to create opportunities for students and faculty to push limits, build pathways, and make connections that lead to new discoveries and transformational change.

Each year we offer over 1,400 graduate assistantships to full-time matriculated graduate students to serve as teaching, research or administrative assistants. Graduate students holding a full assistantship work for an average of twenty hours a week during the academic year. The department making the appointment determines the salary the assistant receives, and many graduate assistants also receive tuition scholarships.

SU Graduate Fellowships consist of a stipend and a full-tuition scholarship (up to 30 credits for the academic year). Where appropriate, they are awarded for more than one academic year. Fellows are appointed annually, primarily from among incoming graduate students, although some returning students entering the final year of a terminal degree program at Syracuse (e.g. M.F.A. or Ph.D.) receive these awards.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/y1NqhW

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2012-02-08T13:51:00.001+08:00

EDUCATIONUSA 推出YOUR 5 STEPS TO U.S. STUDY網站

2012-01-12T10:55:00.001+08:00

EducationUSA has recently launched "Your 5 Steps to U.S. Study" - an interactive guide for international students seeking higher educational opportunities in the United States. Undergraduate, graduate, English language and short-term exchange students from around the globe can now navigate the U.S. admission process by following five basic steps:

Step 1: Research Your Options

Step 2: Complete Your Application

Step 3: Finance Your Studies

Step 4: Apply for Your Student Visa

Step 5: Prepare for Your Departure

It is important to start the admission process to U.S. colleges, universities, and programs early, and we hope that this new guide will better assist you throughout your journey ahead. Visit "Your 5 Steps to U.S. Study" and contact an EducationUSA Adviser today!

網址: http://www.educationusa.info/5_steps_to_study/

國際學生在美國攻讀領域前五名

2012-01-12T10:14:00.001+08:00

According to the Open Doors 2011 report, which is published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the top 5 fields of study of international students studying at U.S. institutions are as follows:

1. Business and Management

2. Engineering

3. Math and Computer Science

4. Physical and Life Sciences

5. Social Sciences

A total of 270,604 U.S. students studied abroad for academic credit in 2009/10, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year. In addition, new international student enrollment – students enrolling for the first time at a U.S. institution in fall 2010 – increased 5.7% over the previous year.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/vI2yGL

ACADEMIC MINUTE BY MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

2011-08-30T08:52:00.001+08:00

Take a minute to listen to the Academic Minute, hosted by Mount Holyoke College's President Lynn Pasquerella. This program will feature a different professor every day, keeping listeners abreast of what's new and exciting in the academy with topics ranging from updates on groundbreaking scientific research to an explanation of how the board game Monopoly can help explain the economic recession. Listen daily or visit the website and listen to the archives!

For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/oTV4oO
Podcasts:http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/.jukebox?action=viewPodcast&podcastId=18671

WINTHROP UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

2011-08-30T08:32:00.001+08:00

Winthrop University is committed to increasing diversity on campus. For this reason we have introduced an array of scholarships designed for prospective international students. These scholarships include:-

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP

INTERNATIONAL AMBASSADOR SCHOLARSHIP

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TRANSFER SCHOLARSHIPS

Winthrop University is also offering application fee waivers to students connected with EducationUSA. To contact Winthrop directly, please email Fred Schlingemann at schlingemann@winthrop.edu or call 001-803-323-3393.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/pH0urn Facebook Twitter YouTube

DUMBARTON OAKS RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSHIPS IN BYZANTINE, GARDEN AND LANDSCAPE, AND PRE-COLUMBIAN STUDIES

2011-08-24T15:46:00.000+08:00

Dumbarton Oaks offers residential fellowships in three areas of study: Byzantine Studies (including related aspects of late Roman, early Christian, Western medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern studies), Pre-Columbian Studies (of Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America), and Garden and Landscape Studies. Fellowship awards range from an equivalent of approximately $27,000 for an unmarried Junior Fellow to a maximum of $47,000 for a Fellow from abroad accompanied by family members.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC, is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/qsEz1O

EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS UP TO $5,500

2011-08-24T15:45:00.000+08:00

At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, scholarship consideration is given to all applicants including freshmen, transfer, international, and graduate students.

The average award is $5,500 and a completed application for admission form with all requested supporting documents is required for consideration. Undergraduate applicants also need an offical SAT score, and graduate students need either an offical GRE or GMAT score.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/ntxPgA

The MBA Tour 2011 世界巡迴展 - 台北場

2011-08-12T10:41:00.000+08:00

可以與多所知名大學的MBA代表或校友面談,並且聽取座談, 機會難得,敬請把握!
日期：2011年9月3日 (週六) 上午11點至下午6點
地點：台北晶華酒店 (台北市中山區中山北路二段41號)
報名網址: http://www.thembatour.com/studentArea/StudentRegNew.jsp
參展學校:
Carnegie Mellon University
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
College of William and Mary
Cornell University
Cornell University & Nanyang Technological University
Emory University
ESMT European School of Management and Technology
Georgetown University
Hult International Business School
IE Business School
IESE, University of Navarra
Indiana University
Loyola University Chicago
Nanyang Business School Singapore
National University of Singapore
New York University
Portland State University
Purdue University
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
University of California Davis
University of California Los Angeles
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
Washington University in St. Louis

托福(TOEFL)成績單寄送方式變更

2011-08-04T16:40:00.003+08:00

托福(TOEFL)成績單寄送方式為響應節能減碳，自即日起變更。考生在報名時有關成績寄送方式的預設選項只有網路成績，考生如需紙本成績單，須在報名時選擇加送紙本成績，此一選擇頁面請見附圖。

PRINCETON SOCIETY OF FELLOWS OFFERS THREE-YEAR FELLOWSHIPS

2011-07-29T09:11:00.002+08:00

The Princeton Society of Fellows, an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and selected natural sciences, invites applications for the 2012-2015 Fellowship competition. Four three-year Postdoctoral Fellowships will be awarded this year (two in the Humanities and Social Sciences, one in East Asian Studies, and one in Humanistic Studies).

The stipend for academic year 2012-13 will be approximately $76,000. Fellows are provided with a shared office, a personal computer, a research account of $5000 per year, and access to university grants, benefits and other resources. Applicants must have completed the PhD degree between Jan. 1, 2010 and Sept 30, 2011, or ABD applicants must have fulfilled all conditions for degree by June 15, 2012. Complete applications and all supplementary materials must be postmarked by September 30, 2011.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/omscbn

NEW BOOK: LL.M. ROADMAP FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

2011-07-22T13:54:00.002+08:00

"LL.M. Roadmap: An International Student’s Guide to U.S. Law School Programs" provides 'roadmaps' through the LL.M. process, from considering why to do an LL.M., choosing the “best” U.S. law school (and getting admitted), ranking, funding, succeeding in school, and various law careers. LL.M. Roadmap provides many checklists and reference sources for international LL.M. students wishing to study at a U.S law school. Professor George Edwards, the author of "LL.M. Roadmap," teaches at Indiana University School of Law, where he is the director of the Program in International Human Rights Law. Personal profits from LL.M. Roadmap are being donated to the International Law Students Association (ILSA) (http://www.ilsa.org). The book will be available July 2011 through the publisher Aspen/Wolters Kluwer.

For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/qs8AHn

Visa Tips from Visa Officers

2011-07-13T14:03:00.002+08:00

Last week David Donahue, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for visa services, gave three tips to students applying for visas to study in America:
1) Apply early2) Be informed3) Be prepared

Watch Mr. Donahue give this advice in a video from the State Department
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1857622883?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAGWqYgE~,KxHPzbPALrFGi6o0QhQY9IxyliWBJ3Vq&bctid=1011344458001

For more information about student visas, please go to AIT website at:
English http://www.ait.org.tw/en/student-and-exchange-visitor-visas.html
Chinese http://www.ait.org.tw/zh/student-and-exchange-visitor-visas.html

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAUNCHES BECKER FRIEDMAN INSTITUTE

2011-07-07T09:27:00.001+08:00

The Becker Friedman Institute brings together two major economic research centers at the University of Chicago: the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics and the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory. Supported by the faculties of the University’s Economics Department, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Law School, the Becker Friedman Institute will continue to support scholarship and attract outstanding visiting scholars of all levels to the University.

The Becker Friedman Institute will appoint highly accomplished scholars to serve as Distinguished Fellows who will visit the University for extended periods and play leadership roles in research initiatives. The Institute will support inquiry on price theory and on the interaction of economics, public policy and the law, historical strengths at Chicago. Other durable and collaborative research initiatives will address some of today’s most pressing issues: systemic risks in the global economy, long-term fiscal imbalances, economics and the family, investment in human capital and other topics.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/j6Ldcg

INTERNATIONAL PEACE SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS

2011-06-30T13:42:00.001+08:00

The International Peace Scholarship Fund, established in 1949 by the Philanthropic Educational Organization, is a program that provides scholarships for selected women from other countries for graduate study in the United States and Canada. The applicant must be qualified for admission to full-time graduate study or working toward a graduate degree in a college or university in the US or Canada. In order to qualify for her first scholarship, the applicant must have at least one full year of coursework remaining and be enrolled and in residence for the entire school year.

Eligibility must be established before application material is made available electronically to applicants, and the completed eligibility material will be accepted electronically only between August 15 and December 15. The deadline for submitting application and all related material, except applicant’s confirmation of admission from the university, is January 31.For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/mFvVuR

Chat with an U.S. Expert: Researching Choices

2011-02-17T16:19:00.000+08:00

Did you know that there are more than 4,900 accredited U.S. colleges, institutes, and universities to choose from in your search for the right school? Join us online to learn more about how to sort through the many options available to you! Experts from the field will answer your questions and offer invaluable insight on understanding the complexity of the U.S. higher education system and how you can find the college or university that is best suited to meet your needs during this live discussion.

Participation is Free!
http://edusaconnects.acrobat.com/ResearchChoices

Engineering Programs
Wednesday, February 16
8pm-9pm (Taiwan Time)

MBA Programs
Tuesday, February 22
10pm-11pm (Taiwan Time)

Community College Options
Friday, February 25
9pm-10pm (Taiwan Time)

Medical Programs
Tuesday, March 1
9pm-10pm (Taiwan Time)

Young Explorers Grants (YEG) Offer Opportunities to Ages 18 to 25

2011-02-17T16:14:00.000+08:00

Young Explorers Grants (YEG) offer opportunities to individuals ages 18 to 25 to pursue research, conservation, and exploration-related projects consistent with National Geographic's existing grant programs, including: the Committee for Research and Exploration (CRE), the Expeditions Council (EC), and the Conservation Trust (CT).

The Young Explorers Grants Program supports a variety of projects—and an age-range of applicants—that are generally not covered by other sources of funding. Applicants are not required to have advanced degrees. However, a record of prior experience in the fields of research, conservation, or exploration should be submitted as it pertains to the proposed project.
Funding is not restricted to United States citizens—foreign nationals are invited to apply. Researchers planning work in countries abroad should make great effort to include at least one local collaborator as part of their team.

For more information, visit: http://on.natgeo.com/gyYWoh

Quadrant Fellowships

2009-10-21T09:19:00.000+08:00

Scholars pursuing interdisciplinary work are invited to apply for a semester-long Quadrant Fellowship at the University of Minnesota to be held in academic year 2010-2011.

Deadline: November 20, 2009

Quadrant is a joint initiative of the University of Minnesota Press, a leader in interdisciplinary scholarly publishing, and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), a catalyst and incubator of research and discussion across disciplinary boundaries.

Complete applications should be sent to the postal address given below and postmarked by November 20, 2009. Please note that the fellowship may not be used for work toward a degree and is not open to faculty or staff at the University of Minnesota.

During their semester in residence at the IAS in Minneapolis, fellows will receive a stipend of up to $30,000, depending on rank and experience; fellowships include medical and dental coverage. At the IAS, fellows will participate in weekly lunches, coffees, and public lectures with a lively interdisciplinary community that includes University of Minnesota fellows and other Quadrant fellows. They will also be involved in at least one of Quadrant's research and publishing collaboratives: Design, Architecture, and Culture; Environment, Culture, and Sustainability; Global Cultures; and Health and Society. Fellows will give a public lecture and will present a work-in-progress in a workshop setting with their Quadrant collaborative group or groups. In addition, they will work directly with an editor from the University of Minnesota Press to develop their manuscripts for submission. Manuscripts submitted to the University of Minnesota Press will undergo standard peer review and Press board approval process.

Application Procedures

To apply for a Quadrant Fellowship, please submit five copies of the following materials to the mailing address given below: Your research proposal (no longer than 1,500 words). Describe the research or creative project you will undertake during your residence. Indicate which of the four Quadrant Groups you would like to join; if you would like to join more than one, please indicate this. Include a discussion of how participation in an interdisciplinary setting as part of Quadrant would advance your work. An abstract of your proposal (200 words), a curriculum vitae. In addition, ask three people familiar with your work and this project to submit letters of support directly to the address below.

All application materials, including letters of support, should be sent to the following postal address and postmarked by November 20, 2009:

Professor Ann Waltner,
Director Institute for Advanced Study University of Minnesota
131 Nolte Center
315 Pillsbury Dr. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA

Fellowship offers will be made in February 2010, pending renewal of funding.

Quadrant is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
For more information, please visit these pages:
About Quadrant http://www.ias.umn.edu/quadrant.php
About Quadrant’s Environment, Culture, and Sustainability Group http://www.ias.umn.edu/quadrant.php#environment
Call for Applications http://www.ias.umn.edu/quadrantapply.php

If you have questions, please contact the Quadrant Coordinator, Anne Carter, at cart0227@umn.edu.

Newhouse Resident Fellowships 2010-2011

2009-10-21T09:17:00.001+08:00

The Susan and Donald Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College is pleased to announce the Newhouse resident fellowships for academic year 2010-2011.

Deadline: December 1, 2009

Newhouse Faculty Fellowships are open to both junior and senior faculty members at other institutions. In addition to salary-replacement stipends of $50,000, Newhouse faculty fellows will receive up to $3,000 in research support. It is expected that external faculty fellows will combine their Newhouse Center stipends with support from other granting agencies or their home institutions.

The Susan and Donald Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College was established by a generous gift from Susan and Donald Newhouse in 2004. The Newhouse Center aims to promote excellence and innovation in humanistic studies. The Newhouse Center occupies a central space in the Wellesley campus and hosts eight to ten resident fellows each year. Wellesley faculty members on sabbatical and visiting scholars from other institutions. In some years, the Newhouse Center is also able to host Mellon Postdoctoral fellows, but these postdoctoral openings will be advertised by individual academic departments or programs: the application procedures below are for Newhouse Faculty Fellowships only.

Resident fellows will devote themselves primarily to their own research, but will also participate actively in the intellectual life of the institution, participating in programming and events as appropriate, sharing their work in progress, and serving, if they choose, as mentors to student research assistants. Beginning in 2010-11, Newhouse Faculty Fellows will be given the opportunity to work with the Director to design a program in which to present his/her work to the larger community while in residence - e.g. short lecture series, interdisciplinary panel, min-conference, etc.

Applicants for Newhouse Faculty Fellowships should submit by December 1, 2009 1) a research proposal of no more than 1250 words, describing the project and plan of research for the proposed residency; a brief bibliography may be appended; 2) a brief description of a broad programming vision in which to present his/her work while in residence; 3) a curriculum vitae; 4) the names and contact information of three referees, and 5) a cover letter that makes clear the applicant’s reasons for wishing to work at the Newhouse Center and that also makes clear whether the applicant is willing to be considered for an unstipended as well as a stipended fellowship. Applicants should contact recommenders directly and ask them to submit their letters by the December 1 deadline.

Applications can be submitted by regular mail to The Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Wellesley College, 106 Central St. Wellesley MA 02481-8203; or by email to nch@wellesley.edu. For further information, consult www.Wellesley.edu/NCH online, or write tonch@wellesley.edu.

Wellesley College is an EO/AA educational institution and employer. The College is committed to increasing the diversity of the college community and the curriculum. Candidates who believe they will contribute to that goal are encouraged to apply.

Fellowships in Sustainability Science Harvard University's Center for International Development

2009-10-21T09:14:00.002+08:00

Fellowships in Sustainability Science Harvard University's Center for International DevelopmentDeadline for application: December 1, 2009

The Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University's Center for International Development invites applications for resident fellowships in sustainability science for the University's academic year beginning in September 2010. The fellowship competition is open to advanced doctoral and post-doctoral students, and to mid-career professionals engaged in research or practice to facilitate the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective interventions that promote sustainable development. Applicants should describe how their work would contribute to "sustainability science," the emerging field of use-inspired research seeking understanding of the interactions between human and environmental systems as well as the application of such knowledge to sustainability challenges relating to advancing development of agriculture, habitation, energy and materials, health and water while conserving the earth's life support systems. This year we will give some preference to applicants who address the challenges related to meeting human needs for water or food/agriculture/land use in the context of sustainable development. In addition to general funds available to support this fellowship offering, special funding for the Giorgio Ruffolo Fellowships in Sustainability Science is available to support citizens of Italy or developing countries who are therefore especially encouraged to apply. The Sustainability Science Program is directed by Professors William Clark and Michael Kremer, and Nancy Dickson. For more information on the fellowships application process see http://www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci/fellowship.

Applications are due December 1, 2009.

Jon Marco Church Giorgio Ruffolo Doctoral Fellow
Harvard University
Sustainability Science Program
Center for International Development
Mailbox 34
Kennedy School of Government
79 John F. Kennedy St.Cambridge, Mass. 02138
+1 (617) 496-0739
+1 (617) 496-8753 (fax)
jon_marco_church@hks.harvard.edu
www.cid.harvard.edu/sustsci

Doctorant en sciences politiqueUniversité de Paris 1 - Panthéon-SorbonneCentre de recherches politiques de la Sorbonne
jon-marco.church@malix.univ-paris1.fr
http://crps.univ-paris1.fr

The Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy Initiative (SDEP) at the Beckman Institute

2009-10-21T09:03:00.001+08:00

The Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois offers a three-year, $52,000/year post-doctoral fellowship. Applicants interested in an association with The Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy Initiative (SDEP) at Beckman are encouraged to apply. For information on the post-doctoral fellowship and application procedures, see
http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/fellows/postdocfunding.aspx
For information on SDEP see: http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/strategic/sdep.aspx. SDEP faculty at Beckman Institute include Professors Tom Bassett (Geography), Ashwini Chhatre (Geography), Brian Dill (Sociology), and Jesse Ribot (Geography).

Please circulate this announcement to any interested colleagues.
Please include all the information (not just the URL) since this information is essential for applicants.

Many thanks,
Jesse Ribot

Jesse Ribot
Associate Professor
Director, Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy Initiative
Department of Geography
School of Earth Society and Environment and Beckman Institute
University of Illinois
220 Davenport Hall, MC-150
607 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Email: Jesse.Ribot@gmail.com mailto:Jesse.Ribot@gmail.com
Phone: 1 (217) 333-7248 (no voice mail)
Messages: (Geog office): 1 (217) 333-1880
http://www.geog.uiuc.edu/ http://www.earth.uiuc.edu/
http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/strategic/sdep.aspx
Check out the current SDEP speaker series: http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/strategic/climateandsociety.aspx

Auburn University Engineering Graduate Research Fellowships

2009-10-21T09:01:00.001+08:00

Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering awards several lucrative research fellowships to graduate students each year. Now is the time to begin preparing your application. Applicants to the following engineering disciplines offered at Auburn are eligible for the fellowships: Aerospace, Biosystems, Chemical, Civil, Computer Science and Software, Electrical and Computer, Industrial and Systems, Materials, Mechanical, and Polymer and Fiber. All engineering applicants are automatically considered.
Priority Deadline: 15 January, 2010. Preference given to early applications.Below are descriptions of the fellowship funding levels and requirements:

Dean’s Fellowships
● Doctoral candidates
● $32,000/ year minimum renewable stipend plus tuition fellowship
● Expected: 3.5 GPA, combined GRE 1300

College Fellowships
● Master’s or doctoral candidates
● $24,000/ year minimum renewable stipend plus tuition fellowship
● Expected: 3.5 GPA, combined GRE 1250

Departmental Fellowships
● Master’s or doctoral candidates
● $20,000/ year minimum renewable stipend plus tuition fellowship

Tuition Fellowships
● Provides full graduate school tuition
● Available to students with:
- Graduate research/teaching assistantships
- Dean’s, college, and departmental fellowships.

Learn more: www.eng.auburn.edu/graduate

Master’s degree program in American Studies at the University of South Florida

2009-10-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

The Master’s degree program in American Studies at the University of South Florida is actively seeking international applicants. The program offers advanced training in American literature and culture and American Studies methodology for career educators. This is a two-year program; the requirements for graduation are the completion of 9 graduate courses and a Master’s thesis. Minimum requirements for admission are a Bachelor’s degree and scores of 500 and 4.5 on the Verbal and Analytical Writing portions of the GRE.

More information is available on our website, http://www.cas.usf.edu/humanities/grad.html.

We have Graduate Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships available to support international students. The applicant entering in the fall of 2010 who scores highest on the GRE will receive a one-year, $10,000 fellowship. In addition, all students accepted will receive positions as teaching assistants, if they wish, provided that they have these minimum TOEFL scores: Reading: 20; Writing: 24; Listening: 20; Speaking: 24. Teaching assistantships include a tuition waiver and a stipend. This stipend is $2270 per semester in the first year and $5200 per semester in the second year, and there are three teaching semesters per year. However, the tuition waiver does not include the waiver of student fees, which amount to approximately $2000 per year; and the cost of living in Tampa is estimated at $12,000 per year.

Daniel Belgrad
Associate Professor and Chair
Humanities and Cultural Studies
University of South Florida
813-974-9388

SUNY Plattsburgh- Update and Scholarship Information for International Students

2009-10-21T08:58:00.000+08:00

Again, SUNY Plattsburgh has been named among the top schools in the 2009 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report, as well as one of the "100 best values" among public universities in the United States by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. I am very proud that we received special recognition in U.S. News & World Report for our large and diverse international student enrollment. As a matter of fact, we enroll approximately 400 international undergraduates (more than 7% of our total undergraduate population) from 60 countries.

International undergraduate applicants now have two options to apply for admission - the Common Application and the SUNY Plattsburgh International Undergraduate Application. Links to both of these applications are available on our website:

Common Application - https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/default.aspx

SUNY Plattsburgh International Undergraduate Application - http://www.plattsburgh.edu/admissions/international/apply.php

This summer, we began construction on a new, earth-friendly addition to Hudson Hall. Housing the Center for Earth and Environmental Science and chemistry and physics programs, Hudson Hall is one of the two main science buildings on campus. The new addition is slated for completion in 2012.

Furthermore, President Obama has named SUNY Plattsburgh Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Nancy Elwess a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

For your students wanting to find out more about SUNY Plattsburgh through videos or social networking, here are links to our YouTube channel and Facebook page:

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/sunyplattsburgh

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sunyplattsburgh

We use rolling admission so there is no specific application deadline, but we encourage completed applications by no later than April 1 for September entry and November 1 for January entry. We begin reviewing applications for fall enrollment in November. For the fall 2009 semester, we were "full" before May 15.

I look forward to hearing from you. And I love *old-fashioned* email and phone calls!

Sincerely,

Ms. Jackie Girard Vogl
Director, International Student Services State University of New York - Plattsburgh

101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901 U.S.A.

Email: jackie.vogl@plattsburgh.edu
Phone: 518-564-3287
Toll-free: 1-877-877-5170 (in U.S. and Canada)
Fax: 518-564-3292
Web: www.plattsburgh.edu/international

City University of Seattle Scholarships for International Students

2009-10-21T08:57:00.001+08:00

City University of Seattle (www.cityu.edu) announces a scholarship program for new international students which will annually award twenty $3,000 scholarships to applicants currently residing outside the US and admitted to City University of Seattle. Successful candidates should demonstrate current community involvement, good academic standing, and how earning a degree at City University of Seattle will impact their future plans. Scholarships are awarded four times each year. More information about the scholarship, the application process, and requirements is available at: www.cityu.edu/internationalscholarship.

Dmitry Sherbakov, PhD
Associate Director of International Recruitment,
International Student Office
CityUniversity of Seattle
11900 NE First Street
Bellevue, WA 98005
USA
Tel: 1.425.709.5307
Fax: 1.425.709.5319
dsherbakov@CityU.edu www.CityU.edu
Skype: dsherbakov

City University of Seattle is a not-for-profit and EO institution accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

University of richmond scholarships

2009-10-21T08:54:00.001+08:00

Richmond is a top-ranked private liberal arts university where students learn from gifted scholars, engage in rigorous interdisciplinary study, pursue undergraduate research, and gain real world experiences through internships, study abroad and civic engagement opportunities. Richmond’s strong academic reputation and extraordinary student life opportunities have led outside evaluators like U.S. News and World Report to rank Richmond #30 among National Liberal Arts Colleges. In addition, BusinessWeek magazine recognized our Robins School of Business among the top 12 undergraduate programs in the nation.
The University of Richmond is pleased to offer scholarship opportunities equal to full tuition. 45 students in every first-year class, of which 10-12 are international students, are awarded a merit scholarship through the Richmond Scholars Program

http://financialaid.richmond.edu/prospective/scholarships.html

Recipients have demonstrated extraordinary academic achievement, exceptional personal qualities, and potential for ongoing contributions to society. Additionally, the Presidential Scholarship http://financialaid.richmond.edu/prospective/scholarships.html#presidential rewards students who have achieved a superior high school record in a rigorous curriculum as well as outstanding standardized test scores. The scholarship funding provides up to $15,000 per year for four years of undergraduate study at the University of Richmond. There also are partial scholarships available in areas ranging from art to community service. The Bonner Scholarship in particular rewards students who have been active in community and volunteer service

http://engage.richmond.edu/programs/bonner/prospective.html

Deadline for University of Richmond Scholarship consideration: December 15
Attached is information on the University of Richmond’s scholarships programs. Also, following is the link to the our YouTube site. http://www.youtube.com/universityofrichmondThank you and do not hesitate to contact our offices if you have any questio

Grand valley State university- news and scholarship

2009-10-21T08:32:00.002+08:00

Grand Valley State University, in Allendale, Michigan, established new undergraduate programs for Fall 2009 in Radiation Therapy, Radiologic and Imaging Sciences, Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Supply Chain Management.Grand Valley is the only university in Michigan to offer diagnostic medical sonography as a bachelor*s degree program, and the only university in the country to offer pediatric echocardiography as part of a bachelor*s degree program.We also have expanded our scholarship opportunities for international students. All admitted international students are automatically considered for our International Merit Award, which is worth $5,000 per year and is good for up to 4 years. For Fall 2009, nearly 30 percent of new enrolled International students received the International Merit Scholarship.

For any questions:
Christopher HendreeGrand Valley State UniversityOffice of Admissions1 Campus DriveAllendale, MI 49401
Phone: 1 800-748-0246
Fax: 616 331-2000
Email: Hendreec@gvsu.edu or Global@gvsu.edu
Website: http://www.gvsu.edu/

Albion College international student scholarships

2009-10-21T08:30:00.001+08:00

Albion College international student scholarships

Albion College, a top 100 Top Tier Liberal Arts College in Albion, Michigan is proud to announce International Student Scholarships of up to $19,500 per year for accepted international students. Students who demonstrate the highest academic potential and bring significant co-curricular interests to our campus will receive the greatest consideration for these awards. In awarding scholarships, Albion College also considers an applicant's financial need upon review of the application, as well as other requirements. Every international student who is accepted and meets the criteria for admission will be award a scholarship up to that amount.
Notification of a scholarship is made at the time of admission, and will be noted in your acceptance letter. For more information, please contact Lewis Cardenas at lcardenas@albion.edu or visit: www.albion.edu/admission/internationalstudents

Lewis Cardenas,
'02Associate Director for International Student Recruitment Admission Counselor for Americans Living Abroad/TCKs
Albion College
mailto:lcardenas@albion.edu
Phone:(00+1) 517-629-0610
Fax:(00+1) 517-629-0569
Mobile:(00+1) 517-936-6475
Albion College International Admission Website
www.albion.edu/admission/internationalstudents
Albion College Facebook page
www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Albion-MI/Albion-College-Admission/40972256971?ref=ts
Skype ID:lewis.cardenas QQ ID: 1146349071

University of Evansville (Indiana) EducationUSA Scholarship

2009-10-21T08:29:00.002+08:00

The University of Evansville (Indiana) is again offering its competitive scholarship for students coming through EducationUSA Advising Centers (In Taiwan please contact: Foundation for Scholarly Exchange or AIEF). Advisors may nominate students (one per center) for the $14,000 per academic year scholarship. To receive the scholarship, students must be academically eligible for admission to the University and have the EducationUSA advisor's nomination. Students may begin either in August or January. Conditional acceptances are available for students who do not yet have the necessary English proficiency; they may begin in our Intensive English Center and transition into undergraduate studies when ready. This scholarship is renewable each year for 4 years. For a pdf of the nomination form, email Rebecca at: rp50@evansville.edu.

Among Midwest colleges and universities, The University of Evansville ranks #2 in Best Value, and #10 overall from U.S. News & World Report's latest "Best Colleges" issue. This year, a new category was added to the rankings of universities with "A Strong Commitment to Teaching", and the University of Evansville was listed at #6 in that category as well. In addition, UE has been awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers’ prestigious Walter LeFevre Award for 2009 as the number one civil engineering program in the U.S., among small universities. The School of Business boasts AACSB International accreditation and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, ABET accreditation.

Beverly Fowler
Director, International Admissions and Recruitment
University of Evansville
1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
phone (812) 488-2146
fax (812) 488-6389

Scholarship for International Students II

2009-10-20T10:36:00.002+08:00

INSTITUTE OF HUMANE STUDIES JOURNALISM INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Deadline to apply for a spring IHS Journalism Internship: November 15, 2009.

Our program offers paid internships at media networks, think tanks, and newspapers. You could set up interviews for an experienced broadcast producer. Investigate a government program for a policy organization. Or cover the political beat for a local paper.
The program provides a generous stipend and a travel allowance. Plus you’ll attend our summer journalism workshop. After your internship, our program director will help you strategize your job hunt.

I’m happy to report many interns from last summer were recently hired by Fox Business News, the Los Angeles Times, the Jacksonville North Carolina Daily News, and The National Post in Toronto.

Learn more & apply today!
Spring deadline: Nov 15
Summer deadline: Jan 31

Contact:
Keri Anderson
Student Coordinator
Institute for Humane Studies
journalism@theihs.org
http://www.theihs.org/
http://www.theihs.org/ContentDetails.aspx?id=538&utm_source=Prospects%20Jintern&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=Prospects%20Jintern%2010-15-09&utm_campaign=Jintern%2010%20Spring

Scholarship for International Students I

2009-10-20T10:32:00.004+08:00

THE 2010 GOOGLE ANITA BORG MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP -
$10,000 FOR THE 2010-2011 ACADEMIC YEAR

Deadline to apply: Monday, February 1, 2010.

Dr. Anita Borg devoted her adult life to revolutionizing the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields. Her combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate countless women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology. In her honor, Google is proud to honor Anita's memory and support women in technology with the 2010 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Google hopes to encourage women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders in the field.

Google Anita Borg Scholarship recipients will each receive a $10,000 award for the 2010-2011 academic year. A group of female undergraduate and graduate students will be chosen from the applicant pool, and scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of each candidate's academic background and demonstrated leadership. All scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to attend the Annual Google Scholars' Retreat in Mountain View, California in 2010.

Who can apply?
Applicants must satisfy all of the following criteria to be eligible:
• be a female student entering her senior year of undergraduate study or be enrolled in a graduate program in the 2010-2011 academic year at a university in the United States;
• be enrolled in Computer Science or Computer Engineering program, or a closely related technical field as a full-time student for the 2010-2011 academic year;
• maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or 4.5 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent in your current program.
• Citizens, permanent residents, and international students are eligible to apply. Past applicants and finalists are also encouraged to re-apply.
· Contact an EducationUSA Center for guidance on finding and applying to an accredited U.S. college or university (http://www.educationusa.org.tw/).

Deadline to apply: Monday, February 1, 2010.
For more information, write to:
anitaborgscholars@google.com.
http://www.google.com/anitaborg/

International Student Scholarship Aids in Diane Pego Attending Oregon State University

2009-10-11T11:47:00.002+08:00

Oregon State University is the place Diane Pego chose to attend.“I’m from Brazil and back at home we were going with the education system here and so I came here three years ago as an exchange student and that really help me to figure out what I really want to do and where I want to study and I feel in love with the American system and you guys are very organized and everything works smoothly,” she says.

So I am attending Oregon State University in Oregon and I actually chose it by internet because I live back in Brazil and I talked to my dad and my mom and we decided that I was going to come here and there are so many universities in the United States to choose from and I just fell in love with the campus, the teachers at the campus, then I started to talk to people and email people and ask them questions like why should I choose their university.So I emailed like five or six universities and they emailed me and the people from Oregon State were just so friendly and so engaging and welcoming I just had the feeling that this was the right place and I was right!”

Choosing to major in Business, Diane says she will gain the knowledge and skills needed to eventually one day apply them in the business industry.“My major is Business for now, but I want to pursue an international business degree because I have always wanted to work with international affairs, international business I just think the thing that amazes me the most and that I always get excited about so I thought that Business would most likely take me to the path I want to go like an international path so I can travel a lot with a company or something.”

Diane says her time spent at Oregon State University has been good and she says the scholarship she received gives her an opportunity to share about her culture. “It’s been great. It’s just the way I imaged it.I love the campus, I love people here.People here are very friendly and we as international students we sometimes have a hard time making friends and getting involved, but here on campus it is so easy to get involved,” she says.

“There are so many activities and events and I have a scholarship, it’s called International Cultural Service Program and it’s a scholarship that is for international students and what we have to do is to give presentations and just share about our culture with the community and through that we do a lot of international things.We help with any international events when we can and through that I would meet so many people from different countries because here on campus we have I think about one thousand international students [on campus]. [Those] who have this scholarship would be about forty so we get to help with culture events and to give presentations either off campus or on campus and through this scholarship I’ve me so many people and have had so many great experiences just sharing about my culture and interacting with people from all over the world which is what I want to do with my life,” she says.“It is a great scholarship.It is a great experience.”

Receiving a scholarship Diane says has also kept her and her family from having to find ways to pay for her education here in America.“Also, it pays a big chunk of our tuition which is really good too and that is something that international students is always need and that is because the dollar rate always change every once in a while so that is something that most international students are worried about and here in the United States there are so many opportunities to get scholarships and that is one of the greatest scholarships they have here, so I am really glad to have that” she says.

“And my friends here, I live in the dorms also and it is a great way to get involved here on campus if you live in the dorms because you are interacting with peoples either American or other people from other countries too so it are just great.”

Graduation is a few years away for Diane; however she already has ideas as to what she would like to do.“I intend to graduate in 2012 hopefully, but I really don’t know I might stay longer because I have so many plans I want to study abroad first and go up to Germany because I’m learning German now and after I graduate as I said I want to work in international affairs international business so I think that my dream job would be to work for a company where I can travel and go to another countries and sell businesses and things like that and just help people too. I would love to go to parts of Africa, or to Asia where people sometimes struggle and help people through the company or something like that,” she says… that would be the job that I want, so there are a lot of things that I want to do.”

Scholarship From Country Sends Student to Youngstown State University

2009-10-02T11:45:00.002+08:00

Its all because of a scholarship which is why Abdul Aziz Almoajil is in the United States.“I’m from Saudi Arabia and I decided to come to the United States because in Saudi Arabia right now they are now offering scholarships for us to study in the United States. The Saudi Arabian government started this program, King Abdullah scholarship and they are sending students to a lot of countries the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, parts of Europe I’m not sure which countries they are sending students to and they are paying everything.”

Abdul attends Youngstown State University located in Youngstown, Ohio. He has completed his sophomore year and he says that several factors came into play as to why he chose this university over many others. “First, I didn’t know anything about Youngstown State University.I was looking for a university that was not highly competitive like something in between….not so hard, not so easy,” he says. “Also, the admission was easy and the student body is not big or small, but like in between and the most important thing was no Saudis in the university so I can learn English.

Having some skills in computers made it easy for Abdul to decide to major in that field.His biggest challenge he says has been the English Language. “Its computer science and I’ve choose my major because anybody can program me, I’ve grown up using computers all day like since I was eight or nine, I was fascinated by them,” he says.“I have some programming experience in high school. At first I was a little bit anxious everything was new for me, but I’ve learned a lot of things like how to make contract for the dorms and language was at first an issue for me, but then it became easy after I learned the language issue.”

There is no question for Abdul that having good English skills is important. He says that alone is one reason why studying in the United States is essential to him. “Right now most companies even out of the United States one of their requirements for employees is to have good English skills so it’s so important for me so I can improve my English and also it has one of the best universities.”

Adbul says he will graduate in 2011. He says he may continue his masters studies here in the states, but he isn't too sure just what he will do. Another, however he has a few ideas in mind. “I think I’ll like when I graduate I have to go back to Saudi Arabia because I am a scholarship student, but I will try to apply for an optional training program if they allow me, the American government I will work for a year under the optional training program and if they don’t I will go back go to Saudi Arabia and find a job.”

When asked what advice he would give other international students about studying in the United States, Adbul says... “I advise them not to hesitate at all, not to feel any fear of being over here and being alone, not having any fear of the language, people over here are very friendly, they communicate very well they are willing to help and I really encourage them to come over here and improve their English and if they don’t have any at all to learn English and to graduate from over here.”

Stanford Graduate Receives Fellowship to teach Mathematics to high school students

2009-09-27T11:42:00.000+08:00

Growing up in India, Deepti Gupta realized the importance of education. She is a recent graduate and she tells us a bit about her background. “I was born in India and I lived in a small town called Allahabad it’s in Northern India and I moved here in two thousand with my family when I was thirteen and since then I have been in the San Francisco Bay area except for when I went down to University of California, San Diego to get my undergrad in Math and then I came back up here to go to Stanford University to get my teaching credentials and I just graduated from there a couple weeks ago,” she says.

“Now, I am just relaxing and preparing for full time teaching. It will be my first year teaching Math. I’ll be teaching ninth and tenth grade Algebra One and Geometry this year in Redwood City California.

Deepti is also one of the recipients of The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation or KSTF. She says although the selection process is rigorous she knows the fellowship will be of great support through her teaching career. “KSTF stands for The Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship and I was chosen through a rigorous process of letter recommendation, essays, transcripts, college transcripts and all that work and then an interview process which I flew off to Philadelphia for and it was a whole weekend long interview,” she says.

“This fellowship was established in 1999 to support, sustain and inspire high school science and math teachers that are just starting on their careers and that need a lot of support to stay in their career because approximately half of all secondary teachers leave the field within five years so the KSTF fellowship seeks to reverse the trend that is not just in the Bay area in California, but all of over the United States and they want to keep teachers in that field because it is so important and so that is why I decided to apply for the scholarship because I am a new Math teacher and I need that kind of support too,” she says.

Along with receiving pay from the school district where Deepti will teach in the fall, KSTF teaching fellows also receive tuition assistance of up to ten-thousand dollars per year for up to two years as well as a monthly stipend and financial support for summer professional development. Deepti says now, she wants to aspire her students. “My parents have always instilled the value of an education in me and my brother that it can help in social mobility, it can open up lots of opportunities in life and you won’t have to worry about what you are doing, your money and your family and everything if you get a good education and then a career,” she says.

“So that is why I became a teacher to help other students in the next generation. Also, I realize the value of education and how important it is to having a good life and my goal and hope for my students is to prepare them for jobs that probably don’t even exist right now, that they don’t even know about because we are a growing population and we create new opportunities for our students everyday and I also hope that my students become efficient communicators and logical thinkers and critical thinkers because that is what we need in this cut throat market and economy today.”

Deepti says she is committed to teaching mathematics in the United States high schools. Her advice to other students who may be considering teaching as a career after college. “Math and Science both are definitely important because it is not about the Pythagorean Theorem or the formula for the area of a triangle, but it is about the way you think. That’s what employers are looking for. They are looking for that edge if you have it. You know are you able to solve a problem. Are you able to think out loud or think outside of the box and that is what we as Math and Science teachers are trying to help our students do,” she says. “Who cares if you don’t have the area of a triangle memorized? Do you know what a triangle is? Do you know what area means? It’s the deeper concepts behind them is what is important,” she says.

“So, with my credentials from Stanford I am able to teach all levels of Math in high school up to Calculus, AB and BC and I enjoy Mathematics because it makes so much sense and we see it everywhere where ever we go in the world, so if anybody is thinking about teaching I would definitely encourage them to go to the website, its KSTF-dot-org and check it out and see if you want to apply if they would like this kind of support because it is wonderful and it is up to five years and then also talk to their teachers, talk to their professors and see what a day in their life is like if that is what they really want to do.”

For Inventor-Entrepreneur Dean Kamen, the Future is Now

2009-08-10T10:44:00.007+08:00

Dean Kamen's name - and his list of patents - are almost legendary among today's inventors and entrepreneurs. But the general public may know him best as the creator of the Segway Personal Transporter. Designed for a single, upright driver, the two-wheeled, self-balancing electric device can move across almost any level surface.

When it was introduced in 2001, some predicted the Segway would revolutionize how people get around. That hasn't quite happened. Yet Kamen continues to invent devices, mostly for the health care field.

"Actually," says Kamen, "the Segway grew out of one of those devices."

Ten years in development, it was called the "iBot," and its purpose was to revolutionize the way the disabled get around. The iBot looked like a very sophisticated wheelchair, but in contrast to traditional wheelchairs, it enabled people to be at eye level with their non-disabled peers and to climb steps and street curbs.

"In order to do those things," says Kamen, "we needed to figure out how to restore [synthesize] human balance."

After 10 years in development, the iBot was brought to market in 2003.

Innovator gets an early start

Kamen's career as an inventor began when he was only 5 years old, when he devised a system of knobs and pulleys that would straighten the sheets and blankets on his bed each morning automatically.

In high school, Kamen devised a groundbreaking audio-visual system that he eventually sold to planetariums worldwide. After a stint in college, he teamed up with his brother - a medical student at the time - to develop the world's first automatic syringe for premature infants.

"But soon we found we could build these little pumps, and instead of [just] putting them on these babies, we could [also] put them on the belt of a full-grown adult and deliver insulin to diabetics, which became a very large opportunity for my little company."

Kamen eventually moved out of his basement laboratory at his parents' Long Island, New York home and sold that business to a large pharmaceutical company in order to move on to invent new devices for the health and medical fields.

Health care inventions help people lead fuller lives

One important innovation by Kamen's company, DEKA Research and Development, was a kidney dialysis machine patients could use at home. Until Kamen's "Homechoice PD" was introduced in 1995, most people suffering from kidney disease had to be in the hospital several times a week to flush out the accumulated toxins in their bodies.

Recently, Kamen and his team of engineers also created the so-called "DEKA Arm." It is a bionic, or electro-mechanical, arm capable of movements so precise it allows upper-arm amputees to grasp small objects. The arm is also powerful enough to lift objects weighing up to 18 kilograms. The DEKA Arm is now in being clinically tested.

"One of the great things about working on medical products is you can 'do good while you are doing well.' It's a good business, and somehow at the end of the day, when you are going to bed tired because you have really tough problems… you go to bed completely happy, because you are going to be giving health and life to people."

Device could bring clean drinking water to millions

One essential ingredient for health and life is clean water. Yet around the world, lack of access to clean drinking water puts the lives and well-being of millions of people at risk. So Kamen and his engineers designed a small, portable water purification machine that could be brought to any village or urban slum in the world. It's a simple device with two hoses in it.

"You stick one hose into anything that looks wet, no matter what's wrong with the water," says Kamen, "and out the other hose comes out absolutely pure water. The device can make a thousand liters of water a day, while using less total electric input than a handheld hair dryer.

"Now we have to figure out how to get these boxes put all over the world."

Inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs

Kamen says his most gratifying invention to date isn't a machine, but an educational foundation called FIRST, which is an acronym meaning "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology." Kamen explains that the organization is devoted to bringing hands-on science and engineering education to young people who may be more interested in basketball and pop stars than the next great life-saving device or renewable-energy source.

The foundation's main activity is a competition for high school students that Kamen calls a "varsity sport of the mind." To participate, student team are given a bag of assorted parts and told build a robot that can perform a certain task of Kamen's choosing. At the premier FIRST Robotics Championship in 1992, 28 high school teams competed in a gym. In 2009, nearly 1,700 teams and their mentors competed at the 72-thousand seat Georgia Dome stadium.

"I started FIRST because I believe that if you can show kids just a little bit that science and technology is accessible, it is rewarding, it is fun, by putting them in a venue where it is presented as entertainment, they'll never go back."

Instead, he hopes, "they will start a serious life of starting to think about science and technology, studying math and physics, and they'll become the next generation of great innovators."

Today, Dean Kamen is a wealthy man with two large houses, two helicopters, a private jet, and millions of dollars in the bank. But Kamen measures his true wealth by how much he's been able to help others.

"I hope," Kamen says, "that someday people will say of me, 'He put back more into the world than he took out, and he took out a lot!'"

US College Teams Invent for a Better World

2009-07-19T10:38:00.000+08:00

Twelve teams were selected from 100 applicants to participate in the March Madness for the Mind. The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, or NCIIA, sponsors the event, which takes its name from the annual collegiate basketball tournament in the United States known as March Madness.

While inventions ran the gamut from a 3D imaging system to device to diagnose dizziness, many of the projects targeted the developing world. "I really think it is a testament to students in the U.S. today that there is a lot more awareness of global issues," says Humera Fasihuddin, a program manager at NCIIA. "There are students working on some pretty big problems."

Telemedicine in East Africa

Problems like a lack of doctors in rural East Africa, where they have one doctor for every 50,000 people. Julia Wittig of Pennsylvania State University. "A lot of times making the decision whether to go to the doctor or not is one of the most important [decisions they make]," says Julia Wittig of Pennsylvania State University. "If you are living in a rural area, it takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money."Wittig and other students from Pennsylvania State University developed a global telemedicine system to address that issue by using a laptop and cell phone connection to transmit data from rural communities to a Web server. "Doctors around the world as well as local doctors can access [the data] and provide feedback." Sensors that measure heart rhythm, temperature, and blood pressure can be connected directly to the laptop. The data is recorded and transmitted to the Web server, where a doctor can review it and determine whether the patient needs to be seen in person or not. Wittig's team went to Tanzania last summer to do feasibility studies and will test the system this summer in Kenya.

A new lantern and a human-powered water pump

Cooper Union's team traveled to Ghana to assess needs there. The community they met with asked them to design a better source of light. "Currently charities go over there and give away a lot of lanterns, but they pretty much break after six months," says Anurag Panda. "We provide a small kit and the community builds their own lantern, learns how to use the equipment, so it's a self-sustaining project."

Agriculture was the focus of the engineering team from Washington State University. Brendan Dallas says they traveled to Malawi to test their water pump, which is so easy to use, even a child can operate it. "We specifically designed it to be used [with] human power, because electricity isn't an option," Dallas says. He notes the pump is made of materials that are readily available in the regions where it will be used. "That means more jobs in those locations." Although the pumps are designed to handle heavy use and rugged conditions, using materials that are readily available also means they are easy to repair if they should break.

Wheelchairs from bicycles

Easy repair was the primary concern of a team from the California Institute of Technology that developed a design for a wheelchair. "If you have a wheelchair that can be repaired in country, you can get it repaired cheaper and faster," says Daniel Oliver, executive director of Intelligent Mobility International, a non-profit organization he and several friends formed after graduating.

Their wheelchair is made from bicycle bearings, wheels and tires. "If any of those parts wear out or break, the user can take the chair into any bike shop, which are prevalent throughout the developing world, and get them fixed instantly." Like most of the projects on display at March Madness for the Mind, the wheelchair originated as a class project. Oliver says the class Engineering for the Developing World was a way for him to use his engineering skills "to instantly make a difference." Intelligent Mobility International is already producing its wheelchair in Guatemala. The other teams are still fine-tuning their projects, but hope to have them in communities where they can make a difference soon.

Number of Foreign Students at US Universities Increasing

2009-06-28T10:29:00.000+08:00

After the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the number of foreign students attending U.S. colleges and universities dropped off, mostly due to tightened visa restrictions. But the numbers have now rebounded, and foreign students are entering the U.S. education system at record rates.

The number of international students at American colleges and universities increased by seven percent last year, to nearly 624,000, according to The Institute of International Education.
Foreign students contributed more than $15 billion to an economy in dire need of their money.

GREEN REVOLUTION: GROWTH IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION AT US UNIVERSITIES

2009-05-12T08:33:00.001+08:00

In recent years, a number of majors, minors and concentrations with names like sustainable food systems, organic agriculture, and agroecology have cropped up in colleges of agriculture nationwide. Not simply synonymous with "organic," but incorporating that aspect under its umbrella, sustainable agriculture programs are often interdisciplinary in nature.

Developed to varying degrees in response to rising student interest in all things green, a changing food industry, and diminishing enrollments in more traditional agricultural programs, "these programs are one of the latter indicators of things changing because they require acceptance by faculty and administrators," says Damian Parr, a doctoral candidate in agricultural and environmental education at the University of California at Davis.

What programs exist in this field?

The University of Maine, it's fair to say, was way ahead of the pack; the university launched a bachelor of science degree in sustainable agriculture in 1988. There, too, sustainable agriculture was seen as an antidote for declining enrollments.

Meanwhile, Montana State University's sustainable food and bioenergy systems undergraduate major is brand-new, having been approved by the Board of Regents in November. The B.S. degree is jointly run by the College of Agriculture and the College of Education, Health and Human Development, which houses nutrition, explains Mary Stein, the program coordinator. "I think this program does a nice job addressing not only the agricultural production aspect but also the implications for human health, for local economies, for farm viability, preservation of farmland. I think taking a systems approach to these problems is really a strength of this program."

In 2006, as part of a larger curricular effort to emphasize whole agricultural and food systems, Washington State University created a new major in organic agriculture systems. Undergraduate certificates are also available, and in 2008 the university launched a graduate certificate in sustainable agriculture, says Jessica Goldberger, an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Rural Sociology. In assessing the various programs, they've found that students "are very much enjoying the hands-on learning experiences,"
she says. "And I think you see that across the country, this demand for more out-of-the-classroom, practical learning experiences.

Students are very much enjoying these kinds of classes, especially since a lot of the students that are attracted to sustainable and organic agricultural programs don't necessarily have agricultural backgrounds."

Biomedical Research Interests Student Studying at Columbia University

2009-04-15T17:18:00.001+08:00

Profile of Enkelejda Bashllari - Download MP3
Listen to Profile of Enkelejda Bashllari

Enkelejda Bashllari came to the United States as an exchange student on an academic program when she was seventeen. Now, the Albania native is in the city of New York furthering her education. “Currently, I am a PhD candidate at the Columbia University Medical Center studying for a very inter-disclipinary program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysics. I do Biomedical research and I am on a full scholarship to attend Columbia University.”

The field of science has always interest Enkelejda. The twenty-five year old says her major gives her a sense of satisfaction to be learning so much about it. “Biomedical research makes me feel intellectually satisfied. It challenges me, perplexes me, but at the end of the day it makes me fulfilled,” she says. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. This is in addition to the fact that I have always had an interest in Science. I have always been very curious since I was very young,” she says.

“I think my parents, especially my father based on my questions at a very early age about how things worked felt that his daughter was going to be a scientist.”

Working with prominent leaders also has been rewarding. “Columbia University is a very good institution and has a collaborative environment and for the program that I study it is one of the best in the world,” she says.

“Here we have two noble prize winners for medicine, Dr. Kandel and Dr. Axel and many other very prominent scientific leaders in the community such as the person that I work with right now, Dr. Oliver Hobert.”

Enkelejda says international students as well as scholars attending Columbia play a big part in the community. “Well, Columbia University is a very international community and it brings together some of the most amazing people from all over the world. I have met here amazing students which have done so much with their life and have so much to talk about and tell about and they come from so many different countries,” she says.

“Right now some of my closest friends, one is from Tokyo, Japan and I never thought that one of the people that is closest to me would come from a culture that is so different from mine," she says.

"Also, I met several people from southern India. So, I think that is definitely Columbia’s greatest thing, its international community that it offers. You meet so many people with so many diverse backgrounds in this community of great scholars.”

This is Enkelejda's third year in her PhD program. She says once she is finish she is willing to work anywhere and will probably be doing some kind of research. “I think I would like to see myself doing some kind of research and I think that is what is going to happen is that I am going to be doing research, I don’t know in which kind of environment if it is going to be academia or industrial or maybe if … I am interested in also international because of my background and because I have had so many experiences in different countries I am also very interested in international policy of research,” she says. “How policies are made. That is also an interest of mine.”

Her advice to others interested in attending college in the United States is..”Things are not good or bad. They are just different. So I think that is the best advice that I can give to the coming international students who are coming to the United States,” she says. “It is a very different society.

It is a very different culture and they should not judge based on their ideas on their previous definition of (I don’t know) morality or just because things are different therefore they are bad, no that is not the case. It is not good or it is not bad. It is just different. So I think that is very important.”

Princeton University Gives Research Skills To Student From Singapore

2009-04-04T16:58:00.000+08:00

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Sara OonSara Oon is a sophomore at Princeton University. She says education is something that is important, both in the classroom as well as out of the classroom. “Well I think education is necessary process that you have to go through in order to gain the skills that you’re required for the rest of your life and in the process it keeps you thinking and gets you in the habit of being more acceptive of learning,” she says.

"To me education is not something in the classroom or what you learn from your professors, but also learning about people through talking to others, interaction with others, learning about different cultures, different beliefs and in the process become more understanding, more worldly kind of person," she says. “It is not just what you get out of a textbook, but how to survive.”

Selecting Princeton as the place to study happened while going on a college tour with her parents. “I’m from Singapore and I knew that I would get the best education here because I like the liberal arts education as oppose to in Singapore where it’s the British system, so you have to choose your major before you apply to an university and you have to stick with the same subject area for the entire studies while at the university,” she says.

"My parents took me on a college tour of a few universities in the U.S. and out of all those that I visited I liked Princeton the best."

Sara is 19 years old. In high school Sara did a paper, which led her to her major now which is Operations Research and Financial Engineering. “I read up quite a bit about Operations Research before because their optimization seems to fascinate me and I also did a research project on it in high school and I managed to get my scientific paper published so I have quite a bit of background in operations research and now I am hoping to move towards finance side of that subject.” Sara says one of her challenges since being here is adjusting to the education system at Princeton. “Well it is a very different experience from the Singapore system and at first it was quite difficult adjusting not just to the culture, but also to the education system. We learn different things in school so when everyone from different high schools got together they talk about what they learn and it was a lot more similar than what I had learn and the education system is different because in Singapore we are use to having a big exam at the end of two years so we have been studying and none of the test in between count at all towards our grade,” she says.

"Over here it is different because participation counts, you have your midterm assignments and everything counts in a way towards your grade so it small for a consistence effort, but in Singapore its completely different so at first I wasn’t use to it, but now I am getting the hang of it after a year."

One thing Sara says she has come to realize is the wide variety of cultures and international scope many students have that attend Princeton. “Officially, they say that ten percent of students here are international, but I think that a lot of students at least fifty-percent of students here have some kind of international experience or a perspective, because I have met so many people who are not considered international sense because they graduated from local high school, but they spent part of their lives in other countries or their parents are from another country so they know a lot about it or they have traveled very extensively or some of them who were born here and studied partly here and partly overseas all these people have contributed to diversity and a very international campus,” she says. “One with a very global perspective and a very rich variety of cultures.

Graduation for Sara is in 2010. She says she is considering graduate school. “I’m thinking about going to professional possibly business school or maybe get an MPA, Master’s in Public Administration. I think my major is very versatile so I can do basically anything I want with it,” she says. “Most people go to the finance side of the job, and that is definitely a possibly for me, but I think I am open to a more any kind of prosessional.

Student Studies Social Work at the University of Minnesota Duluth

2009-03-15T17:13:00.002+08:00

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Receiving support from the University of Minnesota Duluth is the reason Tamara Miskovic is attending the university at this time. “I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina actually from the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina name Sarajevo and I came to the United States two months ago starting my social work master’s program here. Then I had an interview with the Dean of UMD,” she says. “Actually, I came here because people from the University of Minnesota Duluth were willing to support me because for young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina it is very difficult to afford money and to come abroad to study. So I got support and that was the main reason for my decision to come and study at the University of Minnesota.”

As the twenty-seven year old works towards a master's degree in social work, Tamara says her interest in the field started back home after realizing that her peers as well as herself needed basic services after the war there. "Actually, I finish social work at the university in Sarajevo and that was after the war. I was a kid during the war so social work is a human science and it attracted me to start changing not only something for myself, but also for the community and my peers in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she says.

“So after the war there was a huge rate of unemployment. No one guaranteed that they would find employment when they finish studying. Also, if I go back to my country with my master’s degree no one will guarantee that I will be able to find work. We can always work but voluntary. Also, these days there is post-traumatic syndrome with kids who are growing up divided between religions Catholic Bosnia’s is what we call them or orthodox so the country is divided. "I work there on integrating and reconciliation through different projects and activities to save those kids there,” she says.

“Also, people are in state of basic social needs or basic human needs. They need food. They need clothes and they need it now immediately and society has bigger problems and can't give support to kids so we have to do something for ourselves and care for ourselves so that is one of the reasons and how I decided and started with social work.”

Tamara says the university is a great place and she likes the diversity among students as well as the flexibility of the professors. “The first thing that I realize immediately when I came to the university was the differences and diversity among students and for me to be among those things was a huge and very big deal,” she says.

“I liked it so much and the other thing is the program and how it is created. How theory and practice are very integrated, but sometimes we lack in other countries so I got the opportunity immediately to implement everything that I studied. Also, flexibility and openness of professors is another thing that I like so much so I have to study hard, but that is something that I like and that gives me an opportunity to learn as much as possible.”

As an international student, Tamara says one thing she would like to achieve is meeting and becoming friends with American students. “This year I was thinking I was not culture shock, but again I had to go through the process and also I am alone here I don’t have any family," she says.

"Actually I have a host mother who helped me and with whom I live now, but international students are alone here when they don’t have their community then it is more difficult for them to deal with the culture shock,” she says.

“The question I am asking people around is how to make friends with American peers, with people from America who study with us. Sometimes what I see at the university is that there are multi-cultural clubs, but I am just afraid that it is only multi-cultural people that I see there. I would like more Americans to be involved with us and to be with us and I would like us to become friends.”

As for graduating from the University of Minnesota Duluth, Tamara says...”If everything is okay I should graduate in May 2009."

Rahul Keerthi Gets an Education and Much More at Brown University

2009-03-03T17:25:00.001+08:00

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Twenty-three year old Rahul Keerthi attends Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. So what is it like there? Rahul says....” I say lively. I say active. I say challenging in the sense that it challenges the way I think because of all these thoughts I have around,” he says.

“It is also challenging in that it really pushes me, it is really frustrated me at times being here, but that is how I grow you know when you are challenged, when you are really pushed to your boundaries and you are really forced to sit down and question say ‘why am I doing this,’ or ‘what does this mean’ that is the kind of environment you want to be in and I just think that really what Brown is. It’s lively and it is such a warm place despite the weather here at times it is a very warm place,” he says. “I love about all things the people. The people that I have met here at Brown, they are just wonderful, wonderful people.”

The third year junior is majoring in Commerce, organizations and entrepreneurial ship (or COE), which is a relatively new track at Brown University. Rahul says his specific field is organizational behavior. Exactly what that entails, he tells us. “Organizational Behavior is interesting in that its kind of a business perspective, but because Brown is a liberal arts university and intends for all of its students all of us to have a very broad base understanding of all of our subjects, what COE does is that it gives us a view of organizations from all sort of perspectives,” he says. “

So I have taken courses not just in Sociology where I look at like groups in organizations or how managers and leaders run their organizations, but I have also taken courses in Engineering to understand how technology impacts companies or courses in Psychology and Economics to understand the basis of which firms make decisions and things like that,” he says. “So because of the nature of the university, COE is actually a unique program here and it is really enjoyable for me to take it because I don’t feel like I am being constrained to just one way of thinking about business.”

Rahul says hearing about Brown University and the open exchange of thoughts one can experience when receiving an education in the U.S., he says he looked forward to leaving home and coming here. “I was born in 1984 in Madras, India and I barely lived there actually, my family stayed there for about six months before we moved to Germany and then I lived there for about five years and then from there we moved on to Singapore where I lived ever since,” he says.

“So I was pretty much raised and brought up in Singapore. Educated there all my life and I am pretty much a Singaporean now and the reason why I came to the United States is actually I heard a lot about the universities here in the U-S and the nature of the curriculum and the nature of the education here that there is always an open exchange of ideas, or thoughts and that you have the best and the brightest minds that congregate here especially in the northeast where I am I have heard so many wonderful things about this place and I just had to experience it for myself,” he says. “So when the chance came up to apply to a university here I jumped at it.”

Attending Brown University has been very rewarding for Rahul and he says he is proud to be an international student on that campus. “I’m very proud that I bring an international perspective to the university. That I come here as an international student not just to take the education that the university provides, but also to give back and so I do feel like an international student and I do have that feeling because I am proud to be one and I want everyone to know that I am one,” he says. “That I come from Singapore and that I have grown up in these countries and I have experienced a few things and I can share it with them and I also want to learn where they are from and what they have to give to our society, to our community, to our university.”

Graduation is only two years away and Rahul wants to work in the consulting field. “I’m planning to graduate in two thousand and nine. I actually have no idea what I am going to do when in graduate, but I would love to start working for a company that really involves itself in business,” he says. “

So when I graduate I’m actually hoping to try my hand at consultancy because I feel like it is very interesting and a growing field. There’s so many different perspective that come out every year about how businesses should be run, how people should grow their businesses for the people who work for them and for the people that they serve and that is something that I want to commit and dedicate myself to.”

Sixteen Prestigious U.S. Universities that Offer FREE Online Classes

2009-02-19T08:32:00.001+08:00

Information technology has revolutionized how we find and share information. These progressive institutions have taken the first step by making their class free for anyone to use online:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. New York University
3. Vanderbilt University
4. Stanford University
5. Yale University
6. University of Notre Dame
7. Carnegie Mellon University
8. Tufts University
9. University of Washington
10. University of California at Berkeley
11. Johns Hopkins University
12. Berklee College of Music
13. Gresham College
14. Open University
15. Utah Valley State College
16. Utah State University

Sharisma Sawyer Studies Communication and Fashion Design at Savannah State University

2009-02-02T17:28:00.002+08:00

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Sharisma SawyerAttending a historically black college or university and finding a university she could financially afford, Sharisma Sawyer chose Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia. “First of all I wanted to originally attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and I had a friend who attended the college and they told me that (Savannah State) they are really about diversity," she says.

"(And) after spending a year at the college they offer international students a wavier, that really helps out paying the tuition because we (international students) don’t get financial aid,” she says. “So most of us really aren’t wealthy so it really benefits us.”Sharisma Sawyer desires to become a film screenwriter and a fashion designer in life. The twenty-one year old college student says she wouldn't be able to study in this field if she went to college back home. “I’m from Nassau, Bahamas and I chose to come here for college because at home our main careers are mainly doctor, lawyer, teacher, police so the career choice I was interested in the college at home don’t offer those type of classes and also the career choice that I chose is I want to be a screenwriter and a fashion designer, but the thing is it is not widely known back at home.”Mass Communication is her major and Sharisma has chosen Art as her minor. Having flexibility to utilize all of her skills is important to her and just from the classes she already has taken in film; she realizes she can expand her skills in that area as well.

“I originally chose Mass Communications because I wanted to be a screenwriter, but after taking different classes in video editing and film directing and using the camera, I really expanded my whole career choice and more than being a screenwriter I think I want to be part of everything in a film industry,” she says. “I want to be a director, producer, a cameraman. So the classes have really expanded my knowledge in that area.”Also, I am an artist because my father is an Art teacher so I grew up drawing and painting and everything. When I was in eighth grade, I just started sketching clothing design and it has stuck with me up until now and the interest really grew,” she says. “So I really found an interest in fashion design and I think I can make a profitable career out of it. So I don’t want to be in one area. I want to expand and I want to do different stuff.”There are quite a few students from the Bahamas as well as other international students at Savannah State University. Sharisma says she likes the diversity there and how her professors interact with her. “I like it a lot because the school is really about diversity. My professors treat me like I am a regular American citizen and a lot of them do not know that I am from the Bahamas, so it has been really good to know that there is no discrimination and there is no second thought about grades or whatever, so I like my professors.”

Sharisma says being away from home has helped her to grow up and become dependent on herself which is important to her. Also, is receiving an education at Savannah State University.

“At home we have very few career choices and most of those careers do not entail going to college, so a lot of people at home really do not attend college,” she says. “A lot of people I graduated with they really are not interested in going to college because they figure that they found their way of living. They are working at food stores cashing and I don’t image myself doing that for the rest of my life. I really want to be an entrepreneur so I think an education is very important because with an education especially being an international student you really get far with it.”Receiving a scholarship to pursue her master's degree is what Sharisma hopes can become a reality if she continues to do well with her studies now. She says....”I will be graduating next December. When I graduate actually I want to complete my masters. I want to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and I want to do my masters in film and television and I also want to focus more on the fashion design.

English and Writing Prepares University of Minnesota-Duluth Student for Many Career Choices Back Home in Brazil

2009-01-30T17:15:00.001+08:00

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Finding employment in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil is quite challenging says, Mariana Osorio. Attending college in the United States is not only important for Mariana's future, but essential for her to later be able to go back home and work. “In Brazil where I am from it is extremely hard now a days to find a job and companies are extremely picky and I have experience in a different country especially in the United States plus to be fluent in English and writing and also in speaking is extremely important for you to get a better job,” she says.

“They value a lot this experience because I have also been here alone so I had to go through a lot of things and I had to make decisions by myself. I don’t have anyone that can help me with that because my parents are really far away,” she says. “So you also develop skills like how to handle situations, how to think fast, how to not depend on anyone so these are some skills that companies are looking for now a days especially with globalization we have a lot of international companies in Brazil so we would be dealing with different cultures, different countries and they want people that can live for a while in other country or maybe know how to travel to a different country and how to communicate and everything else.”

Mariana already has one degree. Now, she is working on a post bachelor’s degree, which she explains. “I decided to come to the United States to have my post bachelor’s in professional writing at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD). It is a post bachelor’s. It is not undergrad and it is not a master’s program yet, but it is a post bachelor’s a program that you do after you graduate from undergraduate and it is more specific because I already have a degree in journalism and in my country for you to get a better job it is extremely important for you to be fluent in English.”

In 2006, Mariana was here studying English. The twenty-four year old says her coursework at the University of Minnesota-Duluth now consist mostly of professional writing and communication classes. “This program is a thirty credits program and inside of the composition and inside of the communication department at UMD they focus on speech classes and all writing classes so I have classes such as Business, Arts and Letters, Speech classes, Web Design classes and also I needed an internship too to get my certificate,” she says.

“So it is extremely interesting because I already have a degree in Journalism, so I am focusing on writing and English and how to deliver speeches too like to prepare PowerPoint and presentations and how to write reports, memos, everything so it is really interesting.”

Mariana says socially it was challenging for her to make friends, but once she did it has added to her university experience. “At the beginning it wasn’t easy I was extremely shy. My English is wasn’t very good and people couldn’t understand me very well because of my accent and my vocabulary was very poor at that time, but now I had to be friendly to meet new people, to make more friends and it wasn’t easy, but you get use to that and then you just have to go and start talking to people and after you start meeting people it is great!”

Culturally though, Mariana says it is totally different. “Well, it was really hard because I am from Rio de Janeiro. I live at the coast and it is a big city around seven or eight million people and I came to Duluth and that is really small, less than one hundred thousand people. We don’t have a lot of things to do and their winter is really hard and the food it is different, sometimes I am depressed because I miss my friends and I miss my life in my country, but on the other hand I am experiencing things and its different having fun with different things that I never thought I could have fun to before.”

Mariana will graduate in May this year and then she will return to Brazil.

International Student Pursues Finance and Marketing Degree at Villanova University

2009-01-15T17:16:00.002+08:00

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After many of his family members traveled to the United States at one time or another to pursue education interests, Sultan Alkusayer made the decision to do the same thing. “I’m Sultan Tawfik Alkusayer. I come from Saudi Arabia and I decided to come to the United States probably because most of my family, my father, my mother, most of my other relatives came and pursue their studies in the United States and of course the education system over here is considered excellent compared to other countries.”

Sultan is nineteen years old and Villanova University, located in Villanova Philadelphia, is the place for him due to its high ranking and community environment. “Right now I go to Villanova University, I have chosen Villanova and I am in the Business school Villanova’s Business program since they have been ranked number twelve in the nation. One of the good things about Villanova in the pass few years it’s ranking has gone up and in the coming years by the time I graduate it is going to better and higher,” he says. “By its ranking and by the place it is great.” “

One of the great things about Villanova is its community. The staff members, the students I like how they were very welcoming and relaxed. The first day when I came on campus I really felt it through the students and through the staff members that helped me and through the professors. The professors were really kind and I got lots of extra help and assistance.”

As an international student, Sultan says there are a good number of other international students there. As a freshman, one transition for him was the language; however living on campus helped him adjust to being a college student there. “It is great so far.

One of the first difficulties you could have is about the language, in Saudi Arabia it is Arabic and over here is English so with certain subjects you could have a lot of problems of course with writing essays and other things,” he says. “You could also have some difficulties and some limits.” “One of the good things about living on campus is it helps a person socialize better than being a commuter. I see some international students who choose to be a commuter they don’t seem to be more into the school life especially socializing in the community. They seem to be a little to far from the community, so I think I made a good choice by living on campus.”

Finance and marketing are the subjects Sultan is planning to major in. He says his interest in those fields’ stems from early on in his life. “Since I was in Saudi Arabia I was thinking about pursuing and taking a careering either in Engineering or in the Business world and I ended up choosing the Business. When I graduated from high school I took one year off and I worked at a financial firm and that by itself made me see myself in the business world and helped me choose this as a career for the future.”

Sultan has several more years before he will graduate in 2011 from Villanova University. His advice to other students interested in going to college there or any other university is.... Even my friends in Philadelphia I highly recommended that they try and apply to Villanova. Some of them in other neighboring colleges, but I think it is a real good choice especially if you want to pursue a career in Business and cultural wise I think anyone can get use to any new culture and culture differences.”

Studying International Business Gives Rusbi Andana Tools to Help Women in Guatemala

2009-01-01T17:38:00.001+08:00

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Rusbi Andana initially thought going to college would not be for her because of English being a second language for her. However, she came to realize that going to Alverno College is for her. Here is here story. “In the beginning I was thinking I don’t want to study anymore. I only have [gone to] high school in Guatemala and it was hard to think that at my age and I know that here in the United States that the age is not important, but for me it was because it would have to be in a second language and I thought I would not be able to go to the classes and be able to understand and that was one of my moments I was thinking no at my age it is not good because I knew a little English wasn’t enough to be in class,” she says.

“But then deciding to be in class it helped me because I have teachers who always are friendly in the way that they are always open and that helped me a lot and I feel free to ask questions if I don’t understand or I am able to go to them and say I don’t know what you are talking about and I want to understand so can you can talk slowly…that kind of thing because learning English at my age is not easy, but I am trying to do the best I can.”

As Rusbi mentioned, she is from Guatemala and it was her community along with receiving a scholarship that helped Rusbi go to college. “I came here in two-thousand and four and I am a school sister at Saint Francis and my community is part of this college and they are the ones that invited me to come and that was the reason I decided to stay at this college Alverno because of the offer I had and I am apart of this community that is the main thing that I have this opportunity.

This is Rusbi's first year. The thirty-three year old says the method in how she is able to learn and understand is different from back home and she definitely likes it much more. “Right now I am going for International Business and I am in the first year of being here and I really like the college because of the way they teach here is very different than Guatemala because in Guatemala you have grades and have to be able to pass the class and here we are developing different skills to be able to demonstrate that we are learning,” she says.

“I like it because here they call it assessment, but it is a good way of being able to learn and being able to demonstrate that we are learning in class and that we are learning for the society and not only for ourselves.”Rusbi still has several more years before she finishes, however going back home to tell others how important education is to all people in her country especially women. “I’m thinking that when I finish I want to go back to Guatemala and work with the people because one thing I want to do is to help others understand that education is very important especially for women,” she says.

“A lot of people say ‘no’ women have to be married or go to college and I think even at my age or if somebody is married they can get their education. That is one of my things because women have the right to have education and I know because I am going for International Business,” she says. “I’m willing to have a different view about what it has been and then go back and help people in understanding that it can be good if they want and that is one of my goals in going back to help my sisters in Guatemala.”

Its More Than Computer Science at Clark Atlanta University for Ian Mills

2008-12-20T17:36:00.001+08:00

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This week's student introduces himself. “Hi, my name is Ian Mills. I am from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean southern most island in the west Indies. I decided to come to the United States to pursue a degree in Computer Science mainly encouraged by my mother as well as educational opportunities available here.”

With that being said, Ian chose Clark Atlanta University as the school to further his education. “Clark Atlanta because my university of choice for a multiple of reasons. The first time Clark Atlanta came into my view was at a college fair and the high school that I was attending there was a college fair that multiple colleges came down from the United States and Clark Atlanta was one of them and I spoke to one of the representatives actually Ms. Davis who currently is the Assistant Director of Admissions and while speaking to her she really made Clark Atlanta seem like an interesting place to attend,” he says.

“Along with when I did my personal research Clark Atlanta was rated as of the top ten at the time of HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and I was also offered a scholarship to attend. So everything put together as well as a quick response from the Admissions office led me to attend Clark Atlanta university instead of other universities that I had also applied to.”Studying Computer Science is Ian's passion. He says it is important to him to do something that he enjoys as a pastime. So with that being said, is his coursework challenging for him? Ian says....”the classes aren’t difficult for and it is not difficult because it is not challenging, but at the high school I attended we also had to do an Associates, so before I came up here I did an Associates in Computer Science,” he says.

“So it is a lot of reinforcing that I previously learned and the upper classes are definitely more challenging now. I will also say it has helped me and prepared me for attending my internships that I did and the actual industry.Ian also says when it comes to getting an education; it is more than what he learns in the classroom.

“To me it is very important, but I would not limit education to strictly to what you learn in the classroom, I think the educational experience is more than what you do in the class, what you learn from the textbook, but I think your entire experience at a university so living in a dorm room, interacting with students, attending different groups and extra curriculum activities it builds a more holistic person and that is what I consider truly education you know is building a person not just learning information."As he looks over the past several years, Ian says there is a growth and development phase from being a freshmen student to now being a senior.

“I think when you come in as a freshman the thing is you are still almost questioning what you want out of life and even though as a senior that question is still there, it is answered a lot more,” he says. “ I would say for me for example when I first came I knew I was interested in Computers I changed my major from Information Systems to computer science which is like you are changing from a Business aspect to a more technical and that changing of itself help me define further what I was interested in the Computer field,” he says. “To me I think change of development are more and greater understanding of who you are and what you are interested in and the ability to pursue that.”

Another memory, which Ian says he will always treasure, is the camaraderie in the dormitory. “The one thing that I will always treasure is my freshman year living in the dorm and the freshman dorm is different that most rooms you have a roommate and it is one large room and two beds and you share that experience, but I think what the biggest experience was I would be sleeping and then get up about one or two o’clock in the morning and if you walk down the hallway at least every other door would be open and there just would be people hanging out,” he says.

“You know if they are doing homework, playing games or talking, there was always something going on and to me just that experience that I can get up in the morning and it can be whatever hour, whatever time in the night and just go and hang out with some friends and know it is in your same building it is just that camaraderie, that brotherly kind of mesh I think that was the best thing the biggest memory I take away from Clark.” Ian says his next steps in life after graduation will be to work in the computer field.

Former William Woods University Student Returns for Graduate Studies

2008-12-15T17:39:00.002+08:00

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His name is Ilia Lipartiani. Ilia has returned to William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri after graduating from there in 2005. Here's his story. “I’m from Republic of Georgia, former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and first of all I came to the United States as an exchange student. I came to the state of Montana and I graduated high school in Montana. I went there one year in 2000 and I graduated in 2001,” he says.

“Now I am attending William Woods University. I graduated in 2005. I went there for four years on a soccer scholarship. I took one year off after I graduated in 2005. I worked in St. Louis and then I came back as an assistant soccer coach and I am doing my MBA right now.”

So what is it about the university that made Ilia return to pursue his MBA degree? “The university is pretty small. It is about one thousand people and outside maybe not even that much and they are just really friendly people. You pretty much get to know everyone on campus, all the students everyone and they are very nice people, very nice professors,” he says.

“I like the professors a lot because since I am an international student, when I came I had a little bit of language barrier to understand everything that was being discussed in the class and the classes are about twenty-five to thirty people so teachers would stay afterwards and help me out if I had any problems with anything, especially Ms. Popp she taught me a lot of courses in Business. She was very, very helpful and I like the community and that is the reason I decided to come back.” While working on his degree, Ilia says he enjoys the fact of being able to mix his studies with being an assistant soccer coach.

“When I came in 2001 I played four years I was offered a full scholarship with soccer and I had just an amazing time playing soccer and I love soccer so I kind of wanted to continue my soccer career,” he says. “Soccer is a big part me and I love the sport definitely plus I love business and I wanted to get involved, get more knowledge in business so I tried to mix those two things together which would be soccer and business and it kind of happened perfectly,” he says. “I became a soccer assistant coach meanwhile I am getting my MBA.” Ilia says its not so much the university, but for him it is important to pursue a second degree especially in the United States.

“Well it was very important actually because back home having gained an American degree, having a degree from the United States means a lot and since I got my bachelor’s degree here I was very happy with that and my parents and all of my family was very happy with that and then I had the chance to continue my education, get my Masters which was huge plus I think for my education career,” he says. “It will be very valued in the United States and more than in the United States in Georgia having a Masters degree from the United States and the reason I did this is because I hope my possibilities will be more open and that is the reason I decided to go for the MBA.”

The MBA program is for two years and Ilia has completed his first year. He says he will return in August to complete his studies. “This is my first year. I am just finishing my first year right now. It is a two year program we don’t have any breaks other than Christmas break two weeks break for Christmas and the program goes through the summer, however I’ve decided that since I haven’t been home in about three and a half years now I decided to take one and a half month off from my class and go back home and visit my family and then come back in the beginning of August.” Once Ilia finishes, his first priority is to work in the busines world. He says he will still be involved with soccer in some way because that is one of his passions in life.

“I’ve decided that since I played in college and now I coach it is a big part of me and I love the sport definitely, I think I would more likely be coaching the younger kids just for fun so I am still involved with soccer, but my priority will be the business and because I love business very much I want to have success and that is what I want to do and secondly I would look at the soccer just to have fun and it kind of keeps me in shape and all that stuff and plus coaching the kids and spreading my knowledge to education the kids.

Delaware State University Gives Canadian Student Major of Her Choice and Much More

2008-12-08T17:09:00.001+08:00

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Savitre Bachoo chose Delaware State University and there is more than one reason why she did. “I viewed all the other schools that were also interested in me because of soccer and basically at Delaware State the atmosphere here on campus is awesome. For me personally I don’t like a big, big campus and I mean compared to some of the other schools that I know the campus is really not that small, but at the same time it is in walking distance to everything around so that is what I like about the campus,” she says.

“Also the teachers are really great here. If you are one of those people that you really need help or something like that, there’s always ways to get help here like there is always tutoring places you can go to with no hassle or anything like that, but there is a lot of great opportunities on campus that students can really take advantage of and compared to some of the other schools that I have heard of through some of my friends going there right now, I think that right now Delaware State has a lot of focus on the students and they have my major here and the campus is great so I really didn’t mind coming here.”

Going to college and playing soccer here is important for Savitre, but she says she also is mindful of having a job once she finishes. “Well, I am originally from Toronto, Canada and the reason why I decided to the United States was because I am on a soccer scholarship right now, but my whole goal in the future is I am a Nursing major and in terms of working in Canada as oppose to the United States, nurses make a lot more here,” she says.

“So basically coming to school here is one step in the door to trying to make a living for myself here.”

While studying to receive a nursing degree, Savitre says much is expected from her being a soccer athlete on scholarship. “There is always high expectations here expected of the athletes because they don’t want to set the attitude to other people on campus that athletes get away with everything so basically athletes always have to be better than the regular student,” she says. “We have to prove ourselves academically, but physically especially with our sport and since this university is trying to strive to achieve a lot with their sports we always are training and with our training we are always studying and there is always mandatory study hall so as an athlete here I mean a lot of people assume that athletes get away with a lot but no, as for me especially I have to work twice as hard just to stay on top of my schoolwork and excel in that as well as my sport.”

Savitre is nineteen years old and in her second year at Delaware State. She says for her, studying in the United States is a great learning experience. “I think it is not so much how important, but I think it is more of how great it is as a learning experience because in the United States as well as Canada too I can see that there is a lot more opportunities around you as long as you take advantage of it here, anywhere really, but with this is for me I think that there is a lot of things going on that you can always get yourself involved,” she says.

“There is always experience all around you if you take the opportunities and with that it also helps you get into many job fields that you want. I think especially in America there are always opportunities for its citizens. It could be the littlest opportunities that you think that means nothing, but in the end it could turn into something big so that is what I really like. The fact that there is always an open door as long as you take advantage of it.”

Savitre's advice to other international students is… “By people coming to the United States from different countries people think that they won’t appreciate your culture or where you are from especially if you are different than the average person here, but really coming here is not the way sometimes people portray it,” she says.

“People are welcoming here and people appreciate the fact that you are an individual and there is a lot of opportunities here and I just think it is a great advantage from studying away usually where I’m usually from.

Indian Student Enjoys Football and Engineering at Auburn University

2008-11-28T17:07:00.002+08:00

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Anan Narayanan education started back home way before he decided to come to the United States to study.

"I am from India. My native place is a small village in India called Palakad in Kerala, but I grew up and spent most of my life in Chennai, which is a metropolitan city. One of the biggest cities in the south," he says.

“I did my schooling there and I did my undergrad studies in Engineering Electronics and Instrumentation from Shanmugha College of Engineering which is in Cumberland and after my undergrad in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering I looked at my options for higher education and Auburn seemed to be very promising," Anan says. "The kind of infrastructure and the kind of research program that the university has and I decided to join Auburn. It’s been two years since I have been doing a graduate program at Auburn and it seems to be awesome so far.”The 24-year-old is working on a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He says education has always been a part of his life due to his upbringing.

“Education is very important to me because I come from a background where I am a Hindu by religion and in India education is also an object of worship,“ he says. “We have a goddess for education and even as a child there was a tremendous amount of importance that was given to educational background and I believe that growth is not possible without education not just material growth, even spiritual growth is not possible without education,“ he says. “The kind of rich tradition the country I come from, science and education, science and religion go hand-in-hand. To me it occurs that science and religion are two different things, but there are different ways of speaking about the same thing."

“In a religious front a spiritual front and current and materialistic, I think education is very very important aspect of my life," he continues. "I owe much of it to the spirit I got from my family, from my upbringing, from my school I think that is the reason why I invest so much interest and importance on education.”Besides his research, Anan enjoys several campus activities at Auburn.

“I love Auburn football. I’m a fanatic about Auburn football. I come from a country where cricket is a religion. I mean it is the most important sport. I have not really recognized any sport other than cricket back in India but after I came I started loving football. I mean Auburn football is something that is very close to my heart,” he says. “Other things that I am involved in at Auburn is that I use to be the president of India Student Association. India Student Association is one of the largest and most dynamic international student groups at Auburn. It’s an honor of great pride to be associated and to lead an organization of around 250 members,“ he says.”

“Currently, I am serving as the president of the International Student organization. We have over 1,000 international students on campus and our office serves as a liaison for all international students their concerns, the common problems that international students share in a foreign country and it is a way of helping each other out and making our stay in America more pleasurable,” he says. “There are the two organizations that are very close to my heart and I have spent most of my time working on and these are things apart from my research that takes up most of my time that I have been involved in doing things like that.”Anan has a way to go before he completes his doctorate degree, however he does have an idea what he will do once he finishes.

“It depends on a lot of factors. The way your research goes, the kind of experimental research that you get, how lucky you are and I am guessing that I will get done in another two years,” he says. “So it’s five, five-and-a-half years and I think that I will go back home, but not immediately. I will work for a couple of years getting some international exposure, get a global perspective of business, management, research and academia and then go back to India and serve my country that is where my clients are. A couple of years I would give myself before I go back home for good.”Anan shares his thoughts with other international students about being in the United States.

“America is a fantastic place. It is a land of opportunities. It is a very immigrant-friendly country,” he says. “To all internationals I would ask that they share the kind of wonderful experience that I have shared in this country and not lose a moment and I would like to wish them the very best.”

Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Becomes a Heavenly Thing for Ladi Recac

2008-11-24T17:03:00.002+08:00

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Ladi RecacLadi Recac is busy working on his advance degree at Hampton University. “I am in the PhD program. I am trying to get a PhD so I have been in this graduate program for three years now almost. I am working on my dissertation right now so that really depends how fast I can proceed with my research and that is hard to predict,” he says. “ I don’t know myself how long I am going to be here really.”

Being at Hampton University isn't new for Ladi. When he left his country, he initially chose the university for his undergraduate studies too. “ I’m originally from Czech Republic which is at the eastern border of Germany, Europe and I came to the United States eight years ago and I came as an undergrad to Hampton University,” he says.

“I studies Computer Science and I initially came on a tennis scholarship, I play Tennis and I came to play on Hampton’s Tennis team so I go my undergrad [degree] this way and during my years as an undergrad I was a student worker in the Atmospheric Sciences Department and that is how I got to graduate college,” he says.

“Here, when I finished my undergraduate degree, I liked what I was doing during my undergraduate years here so that is the story basically.”

During his years as an undergraduate, Ladi became interested in his major Atmospheric Science. The 27-year old says a lot goes into the complex subject. “Atmospheric Science as the title says we study atmospheres not only on earth, but planetary atmosphere as well, but that depends on what your concentration is. You can study planetary atmosphere in general or the earth’s atmosphere,” he says.

“Its already a complex topic and it is further divided into say dynamics about the motions of the atmosphere winds and waves and stuff and also you can also concentrate on Chemistry. What chemical processes is happening in the atmosphere at different levels for example so we study the atmosphere as a whole and as a scientist you can concentrate on whatever you like, but at the end of the day you need to know everything because it is all coupled,” he says. “It is just one atmosphere, it doesn’t have separate parts.

Although a lot is involved when it comes to learning, Ladi says he enjoys being in the program and getting hands on experience. “I do very much actually. The program here is great because we cooperate with NASA and we have access to a lot of data from various instruments, from satellites and there is some great faculty here,” he says.

“Also I’ve taken all of my classes actually so I sample basically everything and from my experience I can’t complain. On the contrary, it’s been a great studying experience plus the hands on practice with the research that we are doing during the studies as you take classes you also do research on your own or whoever is your advisor assigns, you learn a lot in a very short time.”

When Ladi graduates, he says he would like to teach or work with a team of scientists who also are interested in Atmospheric Science matters. “I would like to get either a teaching position or even better if I could get a job as a scientist either in government or a private company that are contractors to the government,” he says.

“The government being NASA here and I would like that very much if I could join some team of scientists and just work on problems and atmospheric sciences,” he says. There are just way to many. It is a vast field and considering that if we take all the solar systems, all the planets and the atmosphere there is just much we do not know yet about those things as well as atmosphere on earth.”

Rowing on the Potomac River as a Student at Georgetown University

2008-11-19T09:35:00.002+08:00

I moved back to the Washington, DC area when I joined the State Department last fall. Four years had passed since I lived there. As I walked across the Key Bridge from Rosslyn to Georgetown, instead of focusing on the road, my eyes would be drawn to the Potomac River. I love the Potomac--I love the sun glistening off the water, the boathouse next to Tony & Joe's, the trees that line the banks of the river, and the story about the Three Sisters (rocky islands in the Potomac west of the Key Bridge).

The Potomac has a special place in my heart because I spent a great part of my freshman year on the water. I can't recall what inspired me to try out to be one of the crew members on Georgetown University’s rowing team (especially considering the fact that I can't really swim), but the point is, I tried out for the team and amazingly, survived three cuts, and made the Freshmen Women's Light Weight Crew team.

Crew was a bitter-sweet experience. It was bitter because I hated waking up at 5am every morning Monday through Friday and at 6:30am on Saturdays. It was also bitter because it was mentally and physically challenging--it stretched me to my limits. It was sweet because I loved being on a team and the camaraderie among the team members. I loved wearing our team uniform and screaming "Hoya Saxa" on top of my lungs. Crew is perhaps the epitome of team sport since rowing out of sync would compromise the efforts of the other members of the team, and as cliché as it sounds, the boat is only as strong as its weakest link. Needless to say, the coach pushed us to our limits. I thought about quitting numerous times, but I am glad that I stuck with it (at least until the end of my freshman year). Rowing taught me self-discipline and team work. It also taught me that I am physically stronger than I realized.

Ultimately, I had to make a choice at the end of my freshman year about staying on the team or focus on my other extracurricular commitments in the student government and other student groups. I gave up crew. I sometimes wish I was tougher and made a commitment to the sport, but I also realize that I couldn't balance crew, academics, and my other extracurricular interests.

My experience illustrates the wide range of opportunities available on college campuses across the United States. Educational experiences in the United States encompass more than lessons learned in the classroom, it also involve lessons learned outside of the classroom, whether it's from playing sports, performing community service with a volunteer organization, or interning at a law firm. Despite the fact that schools vary in size, location, and funding, there will always be a lot of opportunities for students to explore. Sometimes, tough choices will have to be made…but the point is that it is up to you to shape your own U.S. educational experience and to participate in activities that enrich your understanding of American society and culture.

Ten Tips for International Students Wanting to Pursue Graduate Study in the United States

2008-11-18T14:58:00.006+08:00

The following article was written especially by Dr. Martin for students in celebration of 2008 International Education Week.

Hello from someone who has spent 28 years in the field of graduate admissions, financial aid and student affairs. It has been my privilege to work with thousands of prospective students, applicants, and enrolled students while serving at Columbia University, The University of Chicago and Northwestern University. My travels have taken me to 61 countries on every continent, largely for the purpose of speaking with students/advisors about the graduate educational process in the United States.

Here are some tips about pursuing graduate study in the United States. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Rather, it contains the input most often provided by me in working with international students over the years. For more information, and to learn about my book, Road Map for Graduate Study: feel free to visit my website: http://www.gradschoolroadmap.com/.

Tip 1: Allow a few years to adequately prepare – take your time
This is very important. You will be faced with many different activities – preparing for the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, etc., researching various educational institutions and programs, preparing your applications, determining how you will fund your studies and much more. All of this takes time.

Tip 2: The importance of learning to speak/write in English
Obviously, your ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing, is crucial. As with any skill, learning English takes time. In addition, some individuals have a greater level of ease in learning other languages. Take the time you need to learn the language. If you find that you are struggling, and application deadlines are approaching, wait a year.

Tip 3: Look beyond the top ten
In my experience, one the biggest mistakes prospective students (in the USA and abroad) make is determining, before doing any substantive research, where they want to apply/attend. Often these decisions are based on the ranking/prestige of an institution, and the student’s or his/her family’s belief that the most important thing is “getting in to the top school.” This is truly a myth. For one thing, rankings fluctuate. Secondly, no two rankings are the same. Thirdly, there are hundreds – yes, hundreds – of outstanding graduate programs in the USA that are overlooked every year because they are not in the “top ten.” In the end your success is not dependant on where you attended, but on who you are and the skill set you bring to your employer.

Tip 4: How you are treated as a inquirer/applicant is extremely telling
This is huge! If you are welcomed, thanked, appreciated and helped as an inquirer or applicant, it speaks volumes about how you will be treated as a student. And conversely, if you are ignored, demeaned, belittled and confused by those with whom you communicate, believe me, nothing will change once you are enrolled. Having a successful graduate school experience is about FIT – you and the institution you are attending complimenting each other.

Tip 5: Follow directions in the application process
Please do this! Resist the temptation to prepare essays that are longer than requested, to include more recommendation letters than asked, to leave a question unanswered, to apply a few days after the deadline, or send information that is for one admissions committee to another one. Any one of these does not provide a good first impression and in cases where the application process is very selective, can result in what might have been an admission decision ending up as a letter of denial.

Tip 6: Do not obsess about academic performance before or after enrolling
In the end, your success in life is not correlated to your grades. While doing well academically is certainly something for which every graduate student should strive, obsessing about having a perfect record can greatly lessen your chances of having a rewarding, fulfilling and fruitful graduate school experience. Do your very best, but if you get a few B’s, it is not the end of the world.

Tip 7: Do not take your standardized test over and over again
Many graduate school applicants are not the best test takers. This can be disconcerting, due to the misguided perception that one’s test score and make or break an application. There are a few institutions where this is the case, but most admit applicants with varying test scores. As Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business I often admitted applicants with GMAT scores below 600, sometimes even below 500. And by all means I was not alone. Many admissions committees realize that test scores are by no means the only predictor of academic success – they are just one part of the application. . .If you take your respective standardized test and do not do as well as you hoped, by all means take it a second time, maybe a third. But do not keep taking the test! It looks worse for you as an applicant.

Tip 8: While there are financial resources available to you, they are not limitless
During my years working with financial aid, it seemed that many international students had a perception that institutions in the United States are extremely wealthy, and have unlimited financial resources to help students fund their education. This is not true. Yes, there are scholarships, fellowships and assistantships available, but there are most always not nearly enough of them to help every student. In nearly every instance graduate students will need to have quite a bit of their own funding available. This is why planning well ahead is so important.

Tip 9: If at all possible, relocate to your new institution/home early
Moving to a new home is a chore even if you are doing so in the same city, county, province or country. Moving to a new country is a major undertaking. There will be huge adjustments. Added to the responsibilities of a graduate program, the adjustments are compounded. If you are able to relocate even one month before your studies begin (two to three months is ideal), you give yourself time to gradually settle in and be more relaxed.

Tip 10: YOU CAN DO THIS!!
Yes, you can do this. Many have done it before you, and you will pave the way for others who follow you. There will be ups and downs, but with your ability to focus on the end result – completion of your degree program and the doors it will open for you – and practice Persistence and Determination, there is virtually unlimited opportunity for you. Your dreams and goals are out there, waiting for you to grab hold of and achieve them. The possibilities are endless. And you will be successful, one day at a time.

International Education Week 2008

2008-11-18T09:18:00.009+08:00

International Education Week (IEW), November 17 -21, 2008, is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education. Education and culture are among America’s greatest assets. It is a hallmark of America’s diverse and welcoming democratic society.

IEW offers an opportunity for America to celebrate international educational exchange and its positive impact on our nation and the world. According to the lastest Open Doors 2008 annual report, the total number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States reached a record of 623,805 in the 2007/2008 academic year.

As part of AIT’s IEW week programs to celebrate IEW, we have asked AIT’s officers to share their unique college experiences with Taiwan students. For information about related programs, please check list of events at: http://www.educationusa.org.tw/

View from the Other Side of the College Application Process

During my senior year at Georgetown University, I had the unique privilege to serve as a student representative on the School of Foreign Service's Freshmen Admissions Committee. I served on the Admissions Committee for the Class of 2007 along with professors and admissions officer in order to provide the student perspective in evaluating the applications and to help select a diverse class of students who would be able to contribute to the Georgetown community. I took a deep breath as I looked at the files piled in front of me. Each dark brown file was at least an inch thick. I reached for a folder and reviewed the first application.

For the first time, I realized that assessing an application was as difficult as putting together an application. How do I differentiate two candidates with similar GPA and SAT scores? How do you quantify a student council presidency versus captain of varsity basketball? How do you evaluate a student's achievements in relation to the opportunities and resources available to that particular student?

College admissions, to be perfectly honest, are somewhat subjective and relative. While SATs and GPAs provide a rough rubric for evaluation, the most important elements of the package--from my experience--are the recommendation letters and essays. Well-written recommendation letters shed light on the applicant and explain to the admissions committee how others see the applicant and the applicant's impact on his/her existing community. Personal essays, on the other hand, provide applicants with the stage to showcase themselves. Essays may reveal attitudes, beliefs, and/or personal traits that help admissions committee understand the applicant as an individual.

While each school will have its own set of priorities, colleges tend to prefer students who are well-rounded and multifaceted, and who can contribute to the diversity of the campus. As the admissions season progressed and the files piled up, it was easy to get lost in the files. Oftentimes, applicant "y" sounded exactly like applicant "x", and applicant "x" sounded exactly like another applicant whose file I reviewed earlier. One word of advice…essays should not only detail what you have accomplished--essays should paint a picture of who you are.

Dakota State University gives Japanese Student More Than Just an Education

2008-10-08T16:54:00.000+08:00

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With a bit of encouragement from his father Yusuke Kojima decided to study in the United States. “I’m from Japan and when I decided to come down here my father offered me that if I wanted to go down to the U-S or not, but first I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and my father really wanted me to go down to the U-S because there might be better opportunities for jobs and my future if I come down here and get educated in the U-S, so that is the reason why I came down here.”

Yusuke is attending Dakota State University, but that wasn't his first introduction to an American college was in Louisville. “Right now I’m currently at Dakota State University in South Dakota and I use to go to the University of Louisville. I was there taking an ESL course, English As A Second Language and I wasn’t taking any other course there, just English.”

Dakota State University not only offers Yusuke the field of work he wants to pursue one day, but it also affords him the opportunity to enjoy one of his hobbies. “Well, my current advisor daughter was attending the University of Louisville taking a Japanese class which is where my advisor was at that time and she actually told me about South Dakota University and my hobby is skiing and she told me that if I came here I could ski down here, so I was kind of interested,” he says.

“Then I found out that South Dakota University has much more there like smaller class sizes and it is a small university so it may be a good place to go as I found out so that is the reason I came down here. [Also] I wasn’t sure what I was going to do at that time and later on I found out that they have web graphic design major so that is another reason to be here.”

Adjusting to American culture and language is a challenge sometimes for Yusuke, but academically he says he is doing fine. “The language barrier is a primary problem for me. The class itself is really nice because we have small classrooms and everyone is helpful to me, but sometimes there are words that I still cannot get like some of the U-S culture, but classes are going really good and the relationship with the faculty is nice,” he says.

“The thing is we have only twenty people in the class at most so the relationship with the faculty is really close and they can understand me well and I can understand them well so that really helps me in class.”

When it comes to the international population at Dakota State University, Yusuke says it is a small community of students. “There’s not many international students at the university probably me and another Japanese [student] is currently there. There are a few, but not many people are involved with an international club,” he says. “I’m actually the president of the international club and since it is a small university me and one other member is in the club.”

Yusuke has another year before he graduates. He says he will go back home to Japan. “Well after I graduate, I am currently thinking about going back to Japan and look for a job as a graphic designer and I am still not sure I if will work here in the States, but my plan is going back to Japan and work as a graphic designer.”

Advice Yusuke has for other international students..... “People who are just thinking about coming down here or they are not sure about it, they are scared or worried, then I say just come here and you will be fine. I know what people worry about like coming here and the language and people might be harmful to them or something, but I say everyone is nice and people usually try to understand me and understand other people so I say come here and you will be fine, just down think to hard and have fun!

Full-Tuition Fellowships from Top B-Schools

2008-09-12T15:51:00.008+08:00

Here's a look at some of the basics about full-tuition scholarships at some of the leading MBA programs
by Alison Damast

One of the management education world's greatest secrets is the wide variety of full-tuition fellowship programs at business schools. There are more than you might think—University of Virgina's Darden School of Business, for example, offers 61 full-tuition fellowships—and it is well worth taking the time to look into them during the application process. It could save you a cool $150,000, the average price for a two-year education at a top business school. We've rounded up some of the top schools' full-tuition fellowship programs, along with how to apply for them.

School: California Berkeley (Haas)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Haas Merit Scholarship; Haas Achievement Award; Maxwell Fellowship; White Fellowship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 14
How to apply: Automatic for Haas Merit Scholarships and White Fellowships; Haas Achievement Award requires optional essay as part of the application; the Maxwell Fellowship has a separate application.
Special requirements: Students must remain in good academic standing.

School: Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Dean's Scholarship; Consortium Fellowship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: Not available
How to apply: Dean's Scholarship automatic consideration; Consortium application

School: U. of Chicago
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: The Dennis W. and Jane B. Carlton Fellowship; The Distinguished Fellows Program; The Wallman Fellowship; The David W. Fox Fellowship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 11
How to apply: Most admitted applicants are automatically considered at the time of the appliation, but many have additional interviews that are required as part of the final selection process.
Special requirements: All of the fellowships have a mentoring component, whether corporate or alumni. The Distiniguished Fellows are mentored by a professor.

School: Columbia
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Feldberg Fellowship; Kopf Fellowship; Project Charity Trust; Alexander Bodini Real Estate Fellowship; Margaret B. Greenawalt Scholarship Fund; Mario Gabelli Fellowship; Goldman Sachs Foundation; Heilbrunn Fellowship; Various Corporate Fellowships
Number of full-tuitiion scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: About 25
How to apply: Automatically considered

School: Cornell (Johnson)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Park Leadership Fellows
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: Up to 25
How to apply: Separate application
Special requirements: Participate in leadership curriculum, attend Park Speaker events, and complete a service project.

School: Duke (Fuqua)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Keller Scholarship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: About 25
How to apply: All admitted applicants considered

School: Harvard
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: HBS Fellowship Program
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 25
How to apply: Complete and submit financial aid application upon admission to Harvard Business School.
Special requirements: Scholarships are awarded based on financial need.

School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Dean's Fellowships
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded: 10-12
How to apply: Automatically considered by the Admissions Committee
Special requirements: Maintain minimum GPA requirement during the four semesters.

School: University of Michigan (Ross)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship:Ross Fellowships; Consortium Fellowships
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded: Approx. 45
How to apply: All applicants automatically considered for the Ross Fellowship; all applicants who through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (CGSM) are automatically considered for the Consortium Fellowship.
Special requirements: None

School: New York University (Stern)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Consortium Fellowships and Dean's Scholarships
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 42
How to apply: Automatically considered

School: Pennsylvania (Wharton)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Howard E. Mitchell Fellowship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 10
How to apply: Selection for the fellowships are made by a fellowship committee based on personal background, academic and extracurricular achievements, leadership, community involvement, strong interpersonal skills, integrity, and their response to the essay question. Admitted student who fits the criteria for the fellowship must complete a separate financial aid application.
Special requirements: The Office of External Affairs requires a one-page résumé and a one-page biography. This information is shared with the companies that financially support the Howard E. Mitchell Fellowship program. Also, the 10 recipients will be a part of a large network and leadership program with other Mitchell Fellows and alumni.

School: Stanford
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Charles P. Bonini Partnership for Diversity Fellowship; Mohammed bin Rashid Fellows Program; Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship, all outside merit-based fellowships. The school also offers fellowships through their financial aid office based solely on financial need.
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: Not available
How to apply: All have a separate application process and requirements.
Special requirements: The Bonini fellowship requires an internship.

School: U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Carolyn and Harold Anderson MBA Premier Fellowship; Bank of America MBA Fellowship; The Thomas M. Belk MBA Fellowship; Thomas W. Hudson, Jr. MBA Fellowship; Richard H. Jenrette Fellowship; Jay Edward Klompmaker MBA Fellowship; Peter G.C. Mallinson MBA Fellowship; The Michaux Family MBA Premier Fellowship for Real Estate Students; Tiger Fellowship; Consortium Fellowship; Forte Fellowship; Kenan-Flagler Business School FellowshipNumber of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 20How to apply: Automatically considered, except Consortium Fellowships which require a target="_blank">separate application to the Consortium for Graduate Study in ManagementSpecial requirements: Maintain academic eligibility

School: UCLA (Anderson)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Dean's Fellowships
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: Not available
How to apply: Either at time of decision or separate application
Special requirements: Maintain academic eligibility

School: Virgina (Darden)
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: Darden Jefferson Fellowship; Batten Entrepreneurial Scholarship; Batten Innovation Scholarship; Batten Media Scholarship; Batten Technology Scholarship; Class of 1957 Charles Abbott Scholarship; Darden Foundation Trustee Scholarship; Darden School Foundation Consortium Fellowship; Darden School Foundation Scholarship; IRC International Scholarship; Robert E. Lamb II Scholarship; Robert E. Lamb II Dean's Scholarship; Landmark Communications Scholarship; Pendleton Scholarship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 61
How to apply: All admitted applicants considered, excepted for the Batten Media Scholarship, which requires a separate application. Students who are considered for the Jefferson Fellowship must come to the school for an interview.
Special requirements: The only fellowship with a requirement is the Jefferson Fellowship, which requires students to do a research paper.

School: Yale
Name of full-tuition scholarship/fellowship: The Laura Cha (Shi Mei Lun) Scholarship; Gordon and Betty Moore Fellowship; Consortium Fellowship
Number of full-tuition scholarships awarded to 2008 entering class: 11
How to apply: All applicants considered for merit scholarships; Consortium application
Special requirements: Gordon and Betty Moore Fellowship: After graduation, grantees agree to work for at least three years in environmental or conservation organizations in the Andes-Amazon region.

Report: Foreign Language Study in US at Highest Level Since 1960

2008-08-25T10:52:00.000+08:00

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A new study shows significant increases in foreign language study in the United States since 2002. From VOA's News York bureau, correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports Arabic is leading the surge.

The survey by the Modern Language Association of America finds that the study of Arabic has increased a whopping 127 percent, and the number of schools offering Arabic study has doubled since the last nationwide survey in 2002.

Spanish continues to be the most studied language at US higher education institutions, but interest in Asian languages is growing with Chinese up more than 50 percent.

The Modern Language Association has been tracking language enrollment for half a century. The group's executive director, Rosemary Feal, says the number of enrollments is now at an historic high. She says the increase reflects a growing recognition on the part of students and government that languages play a role in an ever smaller world.

"First of all, we think that they know that they are going to be better prepared in their careers and in their lives as citizens. And we also know that there is a lot more support for language study today, support in the form of federal dollars, support also in the form of technology," she said.

The study finds that students continue to study traditionally taught languages such as Spanish, French and Italian and that interest in classical languages such as Greek and Latin remains strong.

Karin Ryding, a professor of Arabic at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, says she is pleased that the survey found growth both introductory and advanced level courses in foreign language. She says practicality is one of the motivations.

"I don't think this is just a temporary spike in enrollments. I think these figures indicate a real shift of interest on the part of American students. Young people today understand that the world is now truly and inevitably smaller. They are coming to the study of Arabic and other languages with serious professional goals in mind. I include work with international organizations, diplomatic service, global environmental efforts, humanitarian relief efforts, security studies, international communications and media studies," she said.

The survey's findings are based on language study enrollments at 2,800 colleges and universities across the United States between October 2006 and August 2007. This report is the group's 21st survey.

Top US Business Schools Draw More International Students

2008-08-25T10:46:00.000+08:00

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A Masters Degree in Business Administration, or MBA, was once considered a key to having a successful business career. In recent years, enrollment in full-time MBA programs has dropped, and some business leaders have said the degree is overrated. Victoria Cavaliere reports from VOA's New York Bureau that one of the country's top business school deans says an MBA still opens many doors and is drawing more international students than ever.

In 2005, the Wall Street Journal reported that applications to full-time MBA programs in the United States had plummeted as professors and graduates questioned the degree's cost and value in the workplace.

Meantime, the newspaper said that tuition was climbing and a typical two-year MBA degree can now cost as much as $100,000 .

One of the nation's most prestigious MBA programs is the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire. Tuck's Dean, Paul Danos, says full-time MBA programs are well worth the cost.

Danos says more than ever, foreign students are willing to take out loans for an MBA. He says 37 percent of Tuck's MBA students are now foreign -primarily from India and China.
"I think the MBA is still a wonderful ticket to success. And the students are much more sophisticated now, they're broader when they come to us. They are older, and they are more socially aware and they are much more international," he said.

Danos says an MBA from elite schools like Harvard, Stanford or Dartmouth still enable graduates to get the highest paying jobs after school and puts them on track to becoming CEOs. The professor says the explosion of part-time and private MBA programs that are especially popular in India and the United States do not offer students the same quality of education.
"It's a matter of resources, and it's a matter of not that much accreditation. You don't have to meet a lot of standards to set up as a school, it seems to me. It's pretty laissez faire. And it's very mixed in terms of quality. But it's certainly not achieving the level of the best universities," he said.

Danos says top MBA programs adapt to changing times, though core curriculum, like finance, marketing, and accounting remain the same. He says business schools are teaching courses on business ethics and the impact of business practices to a new generation of MBA students.

U.S. College Admissions: All Pain, No Gain?

2008-08-18T10:54:00.000+08:00

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The U.S. Census Bureau says a college graduate will earn almost twice as much money as a high school graduate during a career. That has led to increased competition to get into traditionally prestigious colleges and universities. VOA's Crystal Park takes a look at the college application process.

There are more than 2,600 four-year universities in the United States, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But even with that range of choice, large numbers of high school students are applying to the same select group of prestigious colleges.

High school senior Bhavna Batra works at an accounting firm three times a week, but not for money. She's participating in an internship program for class credit and experience, which she hopes will win the attention of some colleges.

Bhavna BatraToday, any edge is important for those hoping to be accepted by a prestigious school. Yale University, a member of the select group of universities known as the Ivy League, set a record this year, by accepting fewer than nine percent of those who applied.

Part of the problem is that there are more college age students in the United states than ever -- the population is growing, and the children of the large post-World War II "Baby Boomer" generation are now in high school and college. Acceptance rates are also lower because students are applying to more elite schools -- apparently in the hopes of getting into at least one.

Sharon AlstonSharon Alston is the director of admissions at American University in Washington D.C. "There are just simply more students of college going age, so it's really a demographic pattern that we're seeing<' she explains. "In addition to that, in this age of technology, we're also seeing more students, and then more students applying to more colleges because it's very easy to do that."

Students can now apply online instead of filling out pages of documents by hand. A few years ago, each student applied to 3 to 5 schools on average. Today that number is much higher, says college freshman Brian Kalish, who now leads campus tours for prospective students. "Most kids apply to around 5 to 7 colleges, but some of my friends went as high as 18 different colleges."
These days many students begin preparing as much as three years before admission time -- picking courses, getting involved in school activities, and studying for admissions tests.

Fran LandauAt Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, a career center has been set up to help students prepare for college. Counselor Fran Landau says she's seeing increased pressure on everyone involved in the process. "I'm finding that students are more stressed out and worried about college than they have ever been before," she says, "and I think they're feeling an increased competition and colleges are feeling an excess number of students who are applying more so than ever before."

Students are forced to meet higher standards. For Bhavna, it can be overwhelming. "It's been very stressful only because there's so much you have to do," says the high school senior. "It's like deadlines, essays, teacher recommendations, test scores -there's so much."

And Brian Kalish says getting the letter with the coveted word "Congratulations" makes it all worthwhile. “This school sent me an e-mail and I screamed so loud that my parents came running, one from downstairs," he recalls. "'Brian! What happened?' they asked. ‘I made American [University]!’ Then I fell onto my bed and almost collapsed."

Educators say students should relax. They say a good education is available at many schools in the United States, which is considered to have the finest higher education system. And they say the most important thing is for students to find a school where they feel comfortable.

More International Students Studying in US

2008-08-18T10:47:00.000+08:00

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The U.S. Department of Commerce says American higher education is the country's fifth largest service sector money-maker. International students contribute about $13.5 billion to the U.S. economy each year. A new report this week is announcing an increase in the number of international students in the U.S.

Nour, who is from Lebanon, is spending this year in the United States. She came a few months ago, and July's Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon is still fresh in her mind. She says it was hard to leave her family.

"Most people were shocked," said Nour Christidi. "They were like, 'How can you go after everything that has happened?' It is like you are a traitor. But I thought it was important. And especially after I got here, I realized how important it was to come here."
Nour is one of nearly 565,000 foreign students studying in the U.S.

The Institute of International Education, or IIE, keeps track of them. In a new report, the group says student levels are holding steady for the first time since 2002. It also says more foreign students are enrolling in the United States.

"I would never be able to meet so many international students back home," she said. "It's just incredible. I've met people from India, from Sweden, from Mexico, from all over the world, and it is just amazing."

India continues to send the most students followed by China and South Korea. Business continues to be the leading course of study.

Sang Min Lee is a student from South Korea. He says the mix of cultures offered in Washington, especially in the business community, was the reason he chose to study here.

"If you don't go to the Middle East, if you don't go to Europe, you can meet Europeans, you can meet people in Middle Asia [Middle East] right here in the U.S," said Sang Min Lee.

This year especially saw an increase in Middle Eastern students, due to programs like Saudi government scholarships.

Allen GoodmanAllan Goodman is the IIE's president. He says only about 150 U.S. campuses host one-half of the foreign students. He would like to see more colleges participate.

"International students bring a huge and valuable dimension to America," said Allan Goodman. "Most Americans don't have a passport. Most Americans don't travel abroad."

Still, more U.S. students are choosing to study abroad. This year shows a trend away from Europe and toward non-traditional countries, including China, Argentina, Brazil and India. Goodman says this should continue.

"More and more of the world is affecting how we live, how we create our economy, where we create our jobs, where we create our business," he said.

"No matter where they go in the United States, they will find a family, a friend, a mosque, a church, a temple to worship at," noted Goodman. "They'll be welcomed as students. They'll be welcomed as young citizens. They'll be welcomed as people."

And Nour agrees. She cautions future exchange students from making the mistake of associating only with people from their own countries.

"That's not the point in coming," she said. "I would definitely advise them to come, meet American people, try to listen to the other side and keep an open mind and stay positive. And definitely voice your opinion. It is really important that you do that."

US Seeks More Foreign Doctors, Medical Students

2008-08-18T09:34:00.000+08:00

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Recent studies suggest the United States health care system will soon experience a shortage of doctors and medical professionals. This is leading to increased efforts to attract foreign doctors and medical students to the United States. John Featherly narrates.

Experts say several states have or will soon experience shortages of physicians in a variety of specialties, including cardiology, radiology, surgery and pediatrics.

Dr. Susan Wolfsthal, the director of the University of Maryland's Residency Program, says the United States needs more doctors in all specialties. "There are some parts of the United States where there are many, many physicians and it is very easy for patients to have access to clinical care. And then there are other areas of the United States where there is less and there might be only one physician for many thousands of patients."

This shortage is putting pressure on American medical schools to increase enrollment and on the U.S. government to allow more foreign doctors into the country.

U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons says the United States needs these foreign nationals. "We have people who come to the United States to provide nursing care and medical care and gosh knows we need all the help we can get."

Educators, including Wolfsthal, say foreign students can gain valuable experience and knowledge studying in the United States and working in U.S. hospitals. "You get the same exposure, you get the same opportunity to see whether this is something you are interested in and they also get to see you in action."

Sonia Yousef, a rheumatology fellow at the University of Maryland, says foreign students should try to have well-rounded experiences before coming to the United States.

"So you should try to do some volunteer work, anyways it’s good, and that looks good on your resume as well. So that is probably the fourth thing, but it is not as important as clinical experience."

Wolfsthal says universities value the diversity international students bring. "When you have international graduates they bring, as someone from another institution would, they bring a different perspective, they have different interests and so they bring that to the program."

Experts and educators say foreign medical students and doctors gain a lot from their time spent in the United states. They say working in American hospitals and studying at universities in the United States gives foreign students and doctors a chance to work with the latest technology and to grow professionally.

US Remains Top Destination for Foreign Students

2008-08-11T10:40:00.004+08:00

For decades, the United States has been a magnet for the world's brightest university students. But the number of foreign students enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities slumped after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Now, U.S. officials say those numbers have rebounded, and America's educational ties to the world are stronger than ever. From Washington, VOA's Michael Bowman reports.

From 1985 to 2002, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher learning rose each and every year, for a cumulative increase of more than 50 percent. From 2002 to 2005, however, the trend reversed and enrollment declined. The drop in enrollment from Middle Eastern and Muslim nations was especially severe.

"The number of international students who came to America to study in academic year 2006-2007 has increased from last year and rebounded to record-setting pre-9/11 levels," said Hughes. "The number of American students traveling abroad to study is at an all time high."

Nearly 600,000 international students are currently enrolled in American colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education, which administers the much-heralded Fulbright scholarship program on behalf of the State Department. That number represents more than a fifth of the world's international students, making the United States the world's top destination for foreign scholars, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, and China. Secretary Hughes says the benefits are enormous.

"I believe that America's international educational and exchange programs have proven to be our single most-effective public diplomacy tool of the last 50 years," said Hughes. "These programs also have the potential to change the world, because more than 130 world leaders have participated in America's international exchange programs, including the current president of France, the current prime minister of Britain, and the new president of Turkey."

More than half the international students enrolled in U.S. institutions come from Asia. The top five leading nations of origin are India, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The top fields of study are engineering and business management. Americans studying abroad overwhelmingly opt for European destinations.

Institute of International Education Vice President Peggy Blumenthal says the total number of international students is growing and will continue to do so.

"This is really not a matter of [asking] which of us can capture the largest share of a static number of students, but [rather] how can we all build our capacity so we can host the increasingly expanding number of international students who want to study abroad," said Blumenthal. "In the 2004-2005 period, worldwide international students increased from 2.5 million to 2.7 million, and the projections are for it to very dramatically expand [further]."

In this regard, the United States has a clear advantage over some other countries. Foreign students account for less than five percent of America's total student body in higher education, compared to roughly 20 percent in Australia.

Blumenthal says, not only does the United States host more international students than any other nation, it has the capacity to increase that number in a way that few other nations can match.

Healthcare Administration is the focus for Suliman Alghnam Attending Hofstra University

2008-08-11T10:29:00.003+08:00

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Hofstra University on Long Island, New York gave Suliman Alghnam as well as other international students a wonderful welcome to the United States and the university when he arrived a year ago. “One of the best days for me when I came to the United States was the first week when the international student office took us into the city to watch a musical called ‘Hairspray’ which was really beautiful and after that we went back and played some soccer on campus, “he says.” “It was actually one of the best nights I’ve ever had here at Hofstra because one you come to a new place and you feel so welcome, you stop to forget that you are away from home and you feel that you are among friends and family,” he says.

“Another experience was experiencing Thanksgiving dinner at the Vice president of the university when she invited us over for Thanksgiving which was really a beautiful experience for me.”

Coming to the United States to pursue a master's degree has been a life long dream for Suliman. “I’m from Saudi Arabia I am from the capital I grew up in Riyadh and I decided to come to the United States because I was given a scholarship by the Saudi government to do my graduate degree in the United States and its been a dreamed that I would come and do my education here and it worked out well and as soon as I got my undergrad I got the scholarship and then I came.”

Suliman says his major will afford him many opportunities to be employed either here in the U.S. as well as back home. “I’m doing my masters in healthcare administration. I have a background in physical therapy and when I choose that major I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure what I was going to do, but once I started experiencing the major and learning much about it I just feel in love with it, “ he says.

“I think it is one of the best majors out. I will have a variety of options in the future to do things like hospitals, nursing homes, pharmaceuticals; insurance companies there are a lot of opportunities for me to seize and my background was working in hospitals so I think it is something that I really want to pursue and continue working either here in the United States or when I go back home.”

One thing Suliman says he realizes is being an international student has given him a way to network with other students and also be an ambassador for his country to share his culture and life. “The first and the most important advice is always get involved. I mean get involved with people in your class. Get involved with activities on campus. Get involved with any associations related into your major. If you are a Business major then join a Business association or fraternity. I mean anywhere in the world if you don’t get involved that takes place in that place you will never be able to make friends, you would never be able to network in case you wanted a job, “he says. “So, it is important to get involved, don’t be shy, share your experiences a lot of people misconception about the place you came from. You are here as a messenger to teach people exacting working both ways. You came here to learn and let others learn from you and your culture.”

Suliman isn't too sure what he will do once he completes his studies, however he does want to work some here in the United States before going back home. “I haven’t thought about it yet, but probably I would look for a job and take advantage of the opportunity that international students have after they finish school in the United States every student get a chance to work in the United States for a year doing what is called an open year training so I might take advantage of that and then go back home and start applying what I have learned here in the United States.”

Nida Shadeed Pursues Political Science Degree at Shaw University

2008-08-11T10:16:00.002+08:00

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Nida Shadeed is a Political Science major. Deciding to study in that field was a decision influenced by a summer internship and an associate she met in 2005. “I did an intern the summer of 2005 and believe it or not that is when I decided that I wanted to do Political Science because I actually graduated from high school 2005 and that summer I did an internship at the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands and my co-worker she was a college graduate and she also wanted to go to law school and her major was Political Science so she kind of influenced me on that decision.”

Having a family member already studying at Shaw University made Nida Shadeed decision to attend the university that much easier. “I’m from the Virgin Islands, its U-S territory so it is not really that much difference from the U-S, but of course it’s an island,” she says. “The real reason why I decided to go Shaw here is Raleigh, North Carolina is because I have an older sister and she goes to Shaw as well and you know it just made sense I guess why I decided to come.”

While focusing on her studies, Nida is also involved with the Political Science Club as well as the Pre-law Club. She says meeting international students and getting to know them is one experience she enjoys. “Shaw University is a private school. It is very small and the teachers are hands on and that is something that I like personally. Everybody seems to be very friendly and I like it,” she says. “I got introduced to the international students through a friend of mine, a mutual friend and they are great. It is kind of like knowing people from all different walks of the world so that is one experience that I really treasure at Shaw.”

This is Nida's junior year. She says there are a few educational differences attending college away from home, but one thing is certain, she has also notice changes within herself both intellectually and personally. “To me the differences is back at home teachers are a little bit, the curriculum in my opinion is a little bit more harder and teachers challenge you a little more,” she says.

“Whereas here for me it was getting out of my comfort zone because I lived a pretty sheltered life being that I grew up on an island and coming here where it is like I really do not have that much family and I was forced to try to be a little more independent and be on my own a little bit more, it has kind of help me to realize that this is real life and in that sense it has kind of changed me.”

When Nida graduates from Shaw University in 2009 she wants to go to Law school in the United States too. Her advice to others interested in college here is....”My advice is just makes sure it is something that you really want to do and have school as your number one priority and know that is what you are there for and make as many friends as you can. Nida is one of more than 500-thousand international students currently enrolled in the U-S college and universities.

Muna Ngenda Attends Temple University, Same As Father

2008-08-06T14:22:00.013+08:00

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His father went to Temple University in Philadelphia so Muna Ngenda decided that too would be the university for him. “I’m from Zambia in Southern Africa, the capital city of Lusaka and right now I am attending Temple University in Philadelphia. It was recommended by my dad because he is a Temple alumni and after I looked at it I liked the ranking of the Business school, it is rather highly ranked and also because it has a diverse international student population so it seemed like a good choice,” he says.

"I decided to come to the United States because of the Law degree is something I could get from here. It is very influential I would say, it is good for my credentials and I wanted my education to be more international because I have studied in a few other countries so I thought I would add the United States to the list to round it off.”

Muna is twenty years old. His major is International Business, but he also is interested in Law as well. "I initially wanted to study Law, but while waiting to come to Law school because I planned to come to Las school in America and in America as opposed to England, the Law program is on a second degree,” he says. “You do the law after you get an undergraduate degree. So I decided to get my first official degree in Accounts[ing]. So After studying accounts a few years I decided that I like that field as well so I am going to do Business and Law so that is why I am studying Business as well.

"So I will be receiving a bachelors then I will go on to get a joint a JD MBA.”
From making new friends, getting to know the professors and participating in a few campus activities, Muna says he is getting the total university experience. “Things are going well, I settled in okay and started making a few friends. It was a bit rough at first trying to settle in and get use to the new environment and stuff, but you manage to adapt,” he says.

"The students are okay. The faculty is really cool. There are some excellent teachers, so I really like that. I would say the worse thing is probably been the weather. Otherwise, it has been a very good experience. It has been fun. It has been new and interesting. I joined a couple of organizations there is a student Christian organization that I am apart of as well as the organization of African students and I play sports every now and then. So I have had a good time here."

Zambia, England and the Ivory Coast in West Africa are places Muna have received education. Now, being in the United States he can share the differences and the importance of each system. "The things that I can note, I know back home the education is very intensive should I say that is the major difference I noticed between back home and other countries. The teachers would really push us a lot like during high school and primary school, during the earlier years, I notice that the teachers really pushed us a lot whereas when I went to England the emphasis was more on the student. If was your own decision whether to work hard or not, whereas with African education the teachers really make you work hard,” he says.

"There is a lot of teacher involvement. Then in Ivory Coast, it was a lot of the same thing. Ivory Coast was somewhere in between the two extremes and now in the [U-S] states I say it depends on the teachers some teachers will give you a lot of work to make you do the work, but, with the university it depends on the student themselves, how hard they want to work. The lectures are always available so when you need help, when you need some extra input its there.”

Muna says he even has set several goals for himself that he plans to achieve. “I like to graduate from the honors program, graduate with the highest credentials possible, get any extracurricular activities I can in, get any internships, job opportunities just to excel in my studies and to get my resume updated and develop a very good profile to get the most I can from being here.

When it comes to Muna's goals, graduating and future objectives, he says, “I should graduate in May 2011 or a little earlier if I get some additional transfer credits and my ultimate interest is business consulting. I would like to help people with business ideas, start their businesses and also pursue multi-national investments like getting international companies to invest in Africa, but before I do that I will probably get some experience with some large consulting firms, large business companies.

On the Web, College Classes With No Charge (or Credit)

2008-07-14T14:00:00.003+08:00

Free course materials, including videos of lectures, are available online in many different subjects.

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Knowledge is free on the Internet at a small but growing number of colleges and universities.

About 160 schools around the world now offer course materials free online to the public. Recent additions in the United States include projects at Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Berkeley.

Berkeley said it will offer videos of lectures on YouTube. Free videos from other schools are available at the Apple iTunes store.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology became an early leader with its OpenCourseWare project, first announced in 2001. Free lecture notes, exams and other resources are published at ocw.mit.edu. Many exams and homework assignments even include the answers. The Web site also has videos of lectures and demonstrations.

Today, OpenCourseWare offers materials from 1,800 undergraduate and graduate courses. These range from physics and linear algebra to anthropology, political science -- even scuba diving.

Visitors can learn the same things M.I.T. students learn. But as the site points out, OpenCourseWare is not an M.I.T. education. Visitors receive no credit toward a degree. Some materials from a course may not be available, and the site does not provide contact with teachers.

Still, M.I.T. says the site has had 40 million visits by 31 million visitors from almost every country. 60% of the visitors are from outside the United States and Canada.

There are links to materials translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Thai. OpenCourseWare averages one million visits each month, and the translations receive half a million more.

Students and educators use the site, including students at M.I.T. But the largest number of visitors, about half, are self-learners.

Some professors have become well known around the world as a result of appearing online. Walter Lewin, a physics professor at M.I.T., is especially popular. Fans enjoy his entertaining demonstrations.

M.I.T. OpenCourseWare now includes materials for high school. The goal is to improve education in science, technology, math and engineering.

US Colleges Move to Increase Financial Aid

2008-07-07T15:09:00.002+08:00

Action by Harvard turns up heat on other schools to use more of their endowment money to help their students.

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A recent decision by Harvard University to expand financial aid is putting pressure on other schools to do the same.

Graduation ceremonies at Harvard in JuneThe full price for one year at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is more than $45,000. Many other private colleges cost just as much. But Harvard is much wealthier than any other American university, so it has more to give.

Harvard already offers a free education to students from families that earn up to $60,000 a year. This has helped increase the numbers of lower income and minority students.

Now, the aim is to help all but the wealthiest American families pay for a Harvard education. The new policies announced last month will assist families that earn as much as one hundred eighty thousand dollars. These families will be asked to pay no more than ten percent of their income for college.

For example, a family earning $120,000 would pay about $12,000 a year. Under existing student aid policies the amount is more than $19,000.

What Harvard has done is change the way it offers financial aid. Undergraduates will not be expected to take out loans. Increases in grant aid will replace loans. Also, Harvard officials will no longer consider the value of a family's home when deciding how much aid to give.

Harvard says it expects to spend up to $22 million more a year in financial aid. This will come from its endowment. A college endowment is money given by former students and others as gifts. Schools invest the money to earn more. Harvard's endowment is valued at $35 billion.

Other universities with large endowments are also changing their financial aid policies. Examples include Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Yale's endowment is the second largest after Harvard, at $22.5 billion . This week, Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, announced it will use more of that money for financial aid as well as scientific research. Yale may also admit more students.

But some colleges say they simply do not have enough money to compete with the new policies that are being announced.

Critics of the rising costs of a college education say schools are making these changes in an attempt to avoid action by Congress. Some lawmakers have criticized universities for raising their prices even as their endowments grow larger and larger.

Rating College Football Teams Off the Field

2008-07-03T14:00:00.001+08:00

U.S. schools face growing pressure to make sure athletes graduate. Second of two parts.

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Today we have the second of two reports about the education of college athletes in the United States. Millions of Americans follow college sports, mainly football and basketball. Schools with good teams are under pressure to win. But now they are also under pressure to do more to make sure their players get a complete education.

On January 7th, the two top college football teams Played in New Orleans for the national championship. Ohio State, rated number one, played number two Louisiana State.

Privacy laws limit what schools can say about academic performance. Still, we wondered how these two universities support their football players off the field as well as on.

Stan Jefferson directs player development for the football program at Ohio State University. He says all the players can receive the same academic help. This includes, in their first year of school, required meetings of what is known as the Interactive Study Table.

This is a program in which players meet with a tutor before classes to discuss their work. Stan Jefferson tells us that players also meet with counselors who make sure they are progressing toward their degrees.

L.S.U. says on its Web site that football players there also receive extra help. It says 100 tutors are available and can provide help in every subject.

We noted last week that the organization that governs college sports is paying closer attention to academic performance. Schools now receive an academic progress rate, or APR, from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This number represents graduation rates for athletes on scholarships in each sport.

An APR of 925 equals a graduation success rate of about 60%. So how are the top schools doing? 950 was the average APR for all the male sports teams in Division One in the last report in May.

Football teams had a lower average -- 931. Louisiana State had an APR of 941. And the Ohio State football team had an APR of 928.

Teams below 925 must develop plans to improve their athletes' academic performance.

Good athletes often get a free education on a scholarship. Critics say it is only fair to these young players to invest in their minds as much as their bodies.

Note: Picture depicts Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman throws a pass during a game in October

College Athletes: Students First, Athletes Second?

2008-06-26T14:00:00.001+08:00

A rundown of the debate over the treatment of players in American schools. First of two parts.

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One of our listeners has a question about college athletes in the United States. Amni Garcia in Mexico would like to know how much they study.

Well, we suppose that like any other students, there are those who study a lot, those who study just enough and those who struggle. But this question touches on a hotly debated subject.

College sports, especially football and basketball, are a big industry. Nationally rated teams and television broadcast rights can be worth millions of dollars.

This could be seen as a good deal all around. Colleges invest in their players and, in return, the schools earn money and attention. The athletes often get a free education. And they gain experience that might lead to a chance to play professionally.

But critics question the morality of a situation where college athletes may seem valued more as athletes than as college students. Praise is heard for recent improvements in graduation rates. Yet critics say that some players who finish college never really learn anything except their sport.

Getting back to the question of how much college athletes study, a better answer would be: it all depends. The expectations and pressures on athletes differ from school to school and sport to sport.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association governs college sports in the United States. For the past few years, this organization has been increasing requirements for student athletes. That includes high school students who want to compete on Division One teams -- the top division in college sports.

College athletes are required to make continual progress toward earning their degree. New reforms aim to punish Division One schools that do not graduate enough of their athletes.

Yet finishing college is not always a goal for students who are good enough to play professionally. Is this short-term thinking? A sports career may not last very long, or lead to the wealth and fame that young players may dream of. But there are always exceptions.

Fans of American football may remember the retired New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath. Recently, he graduated from the University of Alabama. He left that school 42 years ago to play for the Jets. Now he is 64, but he went back -- in part, he says, because he had promised his mother to finish his education.

Note: Picture depicts football great Joe Namath, right, graduating Saturday from the University of Alabama -- 42 years after he left to join the New York Jets

Life on the Tenure Track: A Historian's History

2008-06-19T14:00:00.002+08:00

Second of two reports about salaries for professors in the U.S.

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Now, we continue our discussion from last week about the pay for professors in the United States. We looked at the averages. Today we narrow that to one example.

Andrew McMichael is a young history professor in his sixth year at Western Kentucky University, a state school in Bowling Green. He started as an assistant professor, teaching seven courses a year.

His starting pay was $43,000, plus benefits. These included health insurance for himself and his family, life insurance and a retirement plan.

His position was on the tenure track. This meant the university would have to decide either to award him tenure, which provides job security, or ask him to leave.
He requested tenure after five years. He had to present evidence of his research, teaching and service on committees.

Teaching skills are measured through evaluations by students and observations by other professors. The research requirement includes publishing three articles or writing a book or translating a foreign work into English.

Professors may think they have met all the requirements for tenure, but there are no guarantees. The process can seem mysterious and unfair.

In recent years many schools have reduced their number of tenured positions. Doing that saves money and gives administrators more control. It also means greater competition for fewer jobs.
Earlier this year, Andrew McMichael received the decision about his future at Western Kentucky. It was good news: he earned tenure.

That meant a promotion to associate professor. It also meant a 10% pay increase as well as a one-time payment for good work.

He now earns almost $58,000 a year -- not a huge amount, he admits. And he knows that even a starting professor outside the liberal arts, in an area like accounting, earns a lot more.

He also knows that his school could hire someone to teach the same number of classes he does for about $15,000, with no benefits. But being a professor means more than teaching classes.

Professor McMichael says tenure will mean the freedom to speak out and do research on whatever he wants. History is not his only interest. In the spring he will be team-teaching a class with a biologist on the history and science of beer and brewing.

Excuse Me, Professor, How Much Do You Earn?

2008-06-12T14:00:00.003+08:00

We answer a question about the salaries of American professors.

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Today we answer a question from a listener who wants to become a Spanish professor. Orlando Carvajal asks how much professors earn in the United States.

We looked in the almanac published by the Chronicle of Higher Education. It shows that the average salary for full professors last year was $99,000. For associate professors it was $70,000. And for assistant professors it was $59,000.

Private, independent schools pay more than public colleges and universities. But how do professors compare with other professions? For that we turn to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Assistant professors earned about the same last year as workers in business and financial operations. But they earned about $10,000 less than computer programmers, for example.

The highest paying group of jobs in the United States is in management. The average wage last year was $92,000. Next came lawyers and other legal workers, at $85,000.

Orlando also asks about benefits, things like health insurance and retirement plans. Benefits differ from school to school just as salaries do.

The Chronicle Almanac shows that new assistant professors in foreign language earned $48,000. That was a little more than the national average for all education jobs. But averages do not tell the whole story.

Sally Hadden is an associate professor of history and law at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She notes that language professors generally earn less than those in subjects like engineering, for example.

But these days, professors of some languages, including Arabic, can earn much more than Spanish professors. Universities are competing for them with government and industry.

Professor Hadden also notes that colleges in different areas of the country pay different salaries. Some states have strong unions that have negotiated set increases in salaries for professors.

And different schools value different skills in their professors. Community and liberal arts colleges generally value good teaching skills more than big research universities do.

Salaries can also be tied to something else -- tenure. More about that next week.

Note on above image: Money from the sale of books written by professors can add to their salaries. Florida State University professor Darrin McMahon shows his book 'Happiness: A History.'

Unscientific Poll: Calculators Subtract From Thinking Skills

2008-06-07T14:00:00.001+08:00

We asked for your opinions, and found more critics than supporters of using calculators in school.

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Recently we asked how you feel about calculators in school. We heard from about 03 people in 12 countries, including a large number of Chinese.

Turbo Zhang writes: "My brain is rusting. Why? Because I use calculators everywhere, on my mobile phone, on my computer, etc. New technology makes us use everything except our brain."

Joony Zhu says calculators can provide us with an answer, but we may not understand it completely. And a student at an architectural and engineering college in China, Zhao Jing-tao, calls using a calculator "a kind of laziness."

Critics of using calculators in school, at least until high school or university, outnumbered supporters 2-1.

Khaled Hamza in Cairo says "calculators affect badly on the thinking ways of students." Jose Gudino from Mexico City says this is because "you don't need to make an effort to get a result."

Hemin, a math teacher in Kurdistan-Iraq, says good math skills help in life. So he believes in solving problems with a pencil until high school.

Randy Bin Lin, a Ph.D. candidate from China at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, writes: "You should work out problems with some kind of pain without computers. Then you may come to appreciate the power of these sophisticated machines."

Abbas from Iran, now living in Sweden, says it is good to use your brain because calculators are not always available. "Last week I met a university student who could not subtract 6 from 40 and used a calculator," says Abbas.

But He Wenbo from China says calculators reduce careless mistakes. And Yang Linwei, an 11th grader from China, says: "When I was young we couldn't use calculators. But when I entered high school we have to solve a lot of math problems. We have to use a calculator. It makes my homework easier."

From Burkina Faso, Compaore Tewende Michel writes: "I can say that the handheld calculator has been important in my studies and even in my life."

And Barnabas Nyaaba in Ghana advises that "as we enjoy the use of calculators, let's be careful so that it does not have any bad effects on us."

Finally, Thomas, a student in China, says he likes using electronic calculators in school. But he wanted to tell us about what he called a special calculator which he does not know how to use. He even sent us a picture of this special -- and, in fact, ancient -- calculator. In English we call it an abacus.

Pilgrims Face Competition in Thanksgiving Lessons

2008-06-04T14:00:00.007+08:00

Who really did hold the first celebration in America? For some teachers, including those of American Indian children, that is beside the point.

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The fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Tradition says early English settlers known as the Pilgrims held the first celebration in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They invited local Indians to a feast to thank them for help in surviving their first year in America.

Yet the Berkeley Plantation along the James River in Virginia calls itself the site of the first official Thanksgiving in America. In 1619 an English ship arrived with directions for the crew to observe their arrival date as a yearly day of thanksgiving to God.

But now comes a book called "America's REAL First Thanksgiving." A Florida schoolteacher, Robyn Gioia, tells the story of Spanish explorer Pedro Menendez who founded Saint Augustine, Florida. He celebrated with a thanksgiving feast with the native Timucua Indians. That was in 1565.

So what are schoolchildren learning these days about Thanksgiving?

Sharon Biros is a first-grade teacher in Clairton, Pennsylvania. Her students learn about the holiday as they discuss being good citizens. They read stories about the Indians and the Pilgrims. And the children tell what they are each thankful for. Many of the families are poor. The school organizes a project in which students bring food and money to share with those in need.

Brook Levin heads a preschool in Broomall, Pennsylvania. She says the kids learn about native culture and the Pilgrims and how people at that time grew their own food. Thanksgiving, she says, is a good time to teach about the importance of sharing. The children make bread and other foods and invite their parents to school to enjoy them.

Cheryl Burrell is curriculum director for the public schools on the reservation of the Winnebago Indian tribe in Nebraska. She is not American Indian, and she says there is only one native teacher. But she says all the teachers are trained in native culture and history.

Students learn about the Pilgrims, she says, but not at Thanksgiving time. They learn about them when they study American history. Thanksgiving is used as a time to strengthen a sense of community.

She says most of the families in the tribe celebrate Thanksgiving just like other Americans do. But in addition the students take part in a traditional Indian harvest festival in October.

From the Airwaves to Webcasting, the Many Sounds of College Radio

2008-05-29T14:00:00.001+08:00

Students gain experience at stations that each have their own personality.

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No two college radio stations sound alike.

Some stations have a low-budget sound and students do all the work. Others, like WBRU at Brown University in Rhode Island, have a professional operation heard throughout their communities.

College stations play all kinds of music, from jazz to hard rock. Many also have news, including national or international programming.

More than 300 college radio and television stations belong to a group called Collegiate Broadcasters Incorporated. CBI helps organize a National College Media Conference which this year took place in Washington. Hundreds of students, professors and media professionals were at the four-day event last week.

Warren Kozirenski at the State University of New York-Brockport is chairman of CBI. He points to WBRU as an example of a commercial station, meaning it earns money by selling time to advertisers.

The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission which polices the public airwaves. For example, the station could be fined if it broadcasts offensive language.

Many colleges and universities operate stations that are also licensed by the F.C.C but do not sell advertising. They raise money other ways, including donations from listeners. Stations like these including KTRU at Rice University in Houston are known as public broadcasters.

College radio stations may receive money from the student government or their school administration. Warren Kozirenski says a majority have small budgets of less than $50,000 a year.

Some stations do not broadcast over the public airwaves so they do not have to follow F.C.C. rules. They stream their programming over the Internet or are heard through cable systems. Or they use low-power transmitters heard only on school grounds. Still, many of their adult advisers want the young broadcasters to act professional.

Note: Picture shows the band Coheed and Cambria performing at the WBRU studio.

Weighing the Idea of a Year Off Before College

2008-05-22T14:00:00.002+08:00

Some students use the time to explore professional interests. Others see a 'gap year' as a chance to recover after high school.

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In Britain and other countries, young people sometimes take a "gap year," a year off between high school and college. This idea never gained a big following in the United States. Recent news reports have suggested that interest may be growing, though there are no official numbers.

Charles Deacon is the dean of admissions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He estimates that in the current first-year class of 1,600 students, only about 25 decided to take a year off. He says this number has not changed much over the years.

Mister Deacon says the most common reason is to have a chance to travel. But he says international students may take a gap year to meet requirements at home for military duty.

Some high school graduates see a year off as a chance to recover after 12 years of required education. But it can also give students a chance to explore their interests. Students who think they want to be doctors, for example, could learn about the profession by volunteering in a hospital for a year.

Many colleges and universities support gap-year projects by permitting students to delay their admission. Experts say students can grow emotionally and intellectually as they work at something they enjoy.

The Harvard admissions office has an essay on its Web site called "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation." It praises the idea of taking time off to step back, think and enjoy gaining life experiences outside the pressure of studies. It also notes that students are sometimes admitted to Harvard or other colleges in part because they did something unusual with that time.

Of course, a gap year is not for everyone. Students might miss their friends who go on directly to college. And parents might worry that their children will decide not to go to college once they take time off.

Another concern is money. A year off, away from home, can be costly.

Holly Bull is the president of the Center for Interim Programs. Her company specializes in helping students plan their gap year. She notes that several books have been written about this subject. She says these books along with media attention and the availability of information on the Internet have increased interest in the idea of a year off.

And she points out that many gap-year programs cost far less than a year of college.

'Green' Schools Grow Around US

2008-05-15T14:03:00.002+08:00

Environmentally friendly designs cost more to build. But supporters say they lead to energy and water savings and healthier students.

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In Alexandria, Virginia, the 2,000 students at T.C. Williams High School started classes last month in a new building. It was built as a "green" school based on requirements from the United States Green Building Council.

The council is a nonprofit organization made up of building industry leaders. It has a rating system for buildings called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.

In 2001, there were four schools asking for LEED certification. Now there are 400, including T.C. Williams. So far, 58 schools have been recognized for meeting the requirements.

These include protecting natural areas and limiting the amount of chemicals in building materials. They also include better lighting and improved indoor air quality.
Buildings are also rated on how well they use energy and water, and on things like the use of recycling programs.

At T.C. Williams, one example of green design can be seen in the many windows that let in natural light. Students say the sunny rooms help them stay awake during class.

A rooftop garden is designed to provide stormwater control and help keep the building cool in the sun. And an underground tank can store 1,700,000 liters of rainwater for air conditioning and other systems.

The new building cost about $90 million to build. It stands next to the old T.C. Williams building, which officials say will slowly be taken apart and recycled.

T.C. Williams High School is still waiting for the final part of the LEED certification process. Schools receive points for the number of requirements they meet. Buildings are rated silver, gold or platinum.

Around the country, concerns about limited budgets for public schools sometimes lead to objections to investing in green schools. But the Green Building Council points to a report by Capital E, a Washington, D.C., company that serves the clean energy industry.

Capital E examined the cost of thirty green schools in the United States. It says the average cost was only two percent higher compared to a traditional school. And it says this extra cost is small compared to the savings over time from lower energy and water costs and healthier students.

Number of Foreign Students Rises in US

2008-05-12T14:00:00.001+08:00

A new report shows a 3 percent increase last year, the first notable gain since 2001.

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A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased 3% last year. This was the first notable increase since 2001. And it included a 10% jump in new international students.

The "Open Doors" report is from the Institute of International Education in New York, with support from the State Department.

American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell.

The September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks led to more restrictive visa requirements. Now, stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.

For the sixth year, India sent the most international students last fall, almost 84,000. That was up 10% from the year before. China remained in second place, and South Korea was third.

Japan was fourth among the 20 leading senders of foreign students. But the number of Japanese fell sharply -- nine percent.

There were 3% drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top 20 last year. But there were notable increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, to nearly 80,000.

For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students -- more than 7,000. Columbia University in New York was second.
Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University.

The leading area of study was business and management. That was the choice for eighteen 18% of foreign students last year. Second was engineering.

The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006school year. It was a record number, and an increase of 8.5% from the year before. But only 5.5% of them stayed for a full year.

New Civics Questions for US Citizenship Test

2008-05-08T14:00:00.003+08:00

Officials announce the 100 questions (and answers) about history and government. The newly redesigned naturalization test will be given starting next October.

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What does the Constitution do? What are the first ten amendments to the Constitution called? What did Susan B. Anthony do?

These are three of the 100 history and government questions on the newly redesigned test for American citizenship. People will begin taking the new test in October of 2008 as part of the naturalization process.

The government will provide study materials beginning early next year.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the new civics questions and answers last week. The reading and writing parts of the naturalization test have also been redone.

Government officials began a project in 2000 to redesign the test. Studies had found differences in how it was being given and scored around the country. There were concerns about fairness.

Also, officials say preparations for the new test will do a better job of helping people understand the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

As for those three questions, the Constitution sets up and defines the government and protects basic rights of Americans. The first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights. And Susan B. Anthony fought for women's rights.

Some questions have minor changes from the current version. For example, "Who is the President of the United States today?" is replaced by "What is the name of the President of the United States now?"

And some questions no longer appear, such as "What is the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America?" and "What group has the power to declare war?"

There are new questions like: "What is freedom of religion?" "Name one American Indian tribe in the United States." "What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the United States?" And "What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?" Among the answers to that one are vote, join a political party, run for office or write to a newspaper.

Another new question is "What are two rights only for United States citizens?" The answers are apply for a federal job, vote, run for office and carry a United States passport.

All of the new questions and answers are available free on the Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site. It also has vocabulary lists for the reading and writing parts of the new test. For a link to the site, go to http://www.voaspecialenglish.com/.

After 40 Years, Calculators in School Still Add Up to Debate

2008-05-06T14:00:00.001+08:00

Teachers say electronic brains can be useful, but young students should know basic operations before they begin using them.

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Can you do the math: What is one hundred times four, divided by the square root of a hundred? If you know that, then you know the answer to this: How many years ago did three scientists at Texas Instruments invent the handheld electronic calculator?

The answer is 40. The scientists were Jerry Merryman, James Van Tassel and Jack Kilby. Their first device could add, subtract, multiply and divide. It had 12 bytes of memory -- close to nothing compared to today's powerful calculators. And it weighed more than a kilogram.

But it was powered by batteries. That meant it could be taken anywhere. Other electronic calculators had to be plugged into electricity. Not only that, they weighed close to 25 kilograms and were almost as big as typewriters.

In the United States, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says teachers at every level should support the use of calculators. Students are even permitted to use them when they take college entrance tests.

That may surprise parents who still think of the days of paper-and-pencil only.

Yet after 40 years, calculators in the classroom still add up to the same old debate.

Some education experts think calculators are used too much. Children, they say, learn to depend on these electronic brains instead of their own. Calculators may not only give students answers to questions they do not really understand, critics argue. They may also keep them from discovering ideas for themselves. The danger? Students who cannot even do simple addition and subtraction.

Other experts, though, say calculators have helped make mathematics more understandable to more students. They say calculators give students more time to understand and solve problems -- and to develop a better sense of what numbers mean. That way, the reasoning goes, they can study higher level ideas than they would otherwise. And they can feel better about their abilities.

What do teachers think? Generally they say calculators can be useful -- especially with more complex math. But they also say that young students should know basic operations before they begin using them.

What do you think of calculators in the classroom? Send your thoughts to special@voanews.com. Tell us about your own experience. And be sure to include your name and where you are from.

The Debate Over Merit Pay for Teachers

2008-05-01T14:00:00.001+08:00

Unions argue that linking performance-based pay to student test scores is unfair. A program in Denver offers a number of ways to earn more money.

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The idea seems reasonable. Recognize better workers with extra pay. But it's not that simple. Performance may be easy to measure in some workplaces. But teachers say a classroom is not one of them.

Last year, we reported on a program in Florida to give merit pay to teachers if student scores increase on a statewide test. But a newspaper in Florida now reports that school systems across the state are rejecting the program for a second year.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune says only about one-third of the school districts in Florida may answer a call for proposals by October first.

Why? Teachers say the program forces them to compete against each other. They say it is unfair to link their pay to results on statewide tests. Also, a high school teacher told the paper that a limited budget means that some top teachers may not be recognized.

Critics say performance-based pay should recognize all that happens in a classroom, not just student performance on tests. All that will do, they say, is get teachers to teach to the test. This is already a concern now that yearly testing is federally required for millions of students.

Attempts at merit pay for American teachers have failed in many cases because of resistance from teachers unions or budget cuts.

Lawmakers in Congress are considering a proposal to provide federal money for performance-based pay. It would give merit pay to teachers who do excellent work in schools in poor areas. But the proposal does not necessarily tie the pay to test scores.

Lawmakers and others point to a successful program in Denver, Colorado. It began in a few schools about eight years ago. Last year it was expanded to all the public schools in the city.

Teachers can earn more by working in unpopular schools or teaching unpopular subjects. They also can earn more by taking classes to improve their teaching, or by raising test scores. The plan also reduces teacher pay if students fail to improve on statewide tests.

A local tax increase pays for the program. Reports from Denver say more teachers are asking to work in lower-income areas. And parents in the Denver area seem to support it.

New programs have begun or are being planned in Minnesota, Maryland and Virginia. But many experts say there is still more to learn about the most effective ways to identify and recognize excellent teachers.

Longer School Day = More Learning? Not Necessarily

2008-04-26T14:00:00.003+08:00

Researchers say teachers must be trained to use added time in the classroom effectively.

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Recently we talked about how some American schools have made changes in the traditional school year. Their goal is to improve student learning.

Some have extended the school year, or reorganized it to avoid a long summer break. Another choice is to extend the school day. A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University examines research into how effective this is.

The traditional school day has not changed much in more than a century. Activities or special programs might mean a longer day. But younger children usually go to school from about nine o'clock in the morning until about three in the afternoon. Older ones are traditionally in school from about 7 a.m. until around 2 p.m.

Some high schools have changed to later start times because of findings that teenagers learn better that way. But the new report says results have been mixed. Teachers say students are more awake. But students say the changes interfere with after-school activities or jobs.

By 2001, almost one-third of all secondary schools had some form of block scheduling. The idea is to provide longer periods in the school day to teach basic subjects.

More class time should mean better results. This is the thinking, at least. Yet a 2001 study found that secondary schools with traditional schedules had higher test scores by comparison. Schools with block scheduling did have higher scores in science, though.

In any case, the study agreed with earlier findings that students feel better about their schools in systems with nontraditional scheduling.

So how useful is a longer school day? Not surprisingly, the policy experts at Indiana say it is what educators do with the extra time that has the largest effect on student learning. They note a criticism that education leaders often make scheduling changes without changing the learning environment of a school.

The experts say teachers must be trained to use the added time effectively. Professional development is needed. The report notes that simply adding time to a program that is not very good or very interesting will not increase student learning.

Community support is also valuable for any changes. And there is another consideration. Schools may need a lot of extra money to pay for an extended day.

Appalachian State in Public Eye After Win Over Michigan

2008-04-19T14:00:00.005+08:00

Who would have thought it? Well, some might have. The Mountaineers from North Carolina were two-time national champions at their own division level.

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An exciting start to the college football season: A team that many people never heard of defeats one of the best in the country.

If you follow American sports, then you know we are talking about the Michigan-Appalachian State game. It happened on September 1st at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, in front of more than 100,000 people.

Appalachian State University is in Boone, North Carolina. Its team plays in a stadium that holds about 25,000 people.

The Mountaineers of Appalachian State and the Wolverines of the University of Michigan normally do not even play each other. Michigan is in the newly named Football Bowl Subdivision, the top level of college football. Appalachian State plays in the Football Championship Subdivision.

But they decided to meet for the first time. Michigan agreed to pay Appalachian State $400,000, win or lose.

Teams like Michigan need victories, even a victory over a lower division team, to get into big, nationally broadcast bowl games. These games are worth millions of dollars at the end of the season.

Fans expected an easy Michigan win. After all, in the preseason, sports experts had considered Michigan the 5th best college football team in the country.

But Appalachian State is a two-time national champion at its own division level. And its players wanted to show they could play well against a nationally ranked team. And they did.

The final score was Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32. The game quickly became known as one of the greatest upsets in college football history.

The win has brought national attention to Appalachian State. Local stores reported a huge increase in orders for college clothing and other items. And the university chancellor expects more students to seek admission next year.

The university has more than 13,000 undergraduates and 1,600 graduate students. It has four colleges and a school of music.

Last Saturday, at home, Appalachian State defeated another North Carolina school, Lenoir-Rhyne College, 48 to 7.

The Wolverines also played again at Michigan Stadium. And they lost for the fourth time in their last four games, this time to the University of Oregon. The score was 39 to 7.

Virginia Tech Report Criticizes Mental Health System, School Actions

2008-04-12T14:00:00.003+08:00

An official committee presents its findings about the April killings of 32 people by a student.

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A committee gave its findings last week about the Virginia Tech shootings in April. The committee appointed by Virginia's governor and led by a retired state police official called for more than 70 changes. The goal is to prevent a similar tragedy in Virginia or anywhere else.

On April 16th Seung-Hui Cho, a student, killed 32 people and wounded 17 before killing himself. Among other things, the Virginia Tech Review Panel discussed his mental health history.

In 1999, he wrote in middle school about killing himself and others. This was after the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. His teachers thought he should get treatment, which he did.

He also received services in high school. But school officials thought privacy laws prevented sharing this information with Virginia Tech.

There, he caused a number of troubling incidents. The report says the university in Blacksburg did not intervene effectively. It says no one knew all the information and no one put it all together.

The committee pointed to problems with Virginia's mental health system. It also found widespread misunderstanding about federal and state privacy laws.

In 2005, a court judged the young man a danger to himself and ordered him to get treatment. But he was not ordered into a hospital. Still, his name should have been added to federal and state lists of people barred from buying guns.

Virginia law did not make that clear. Governor Tim Kaine has moved to deal with this. But Virginia officials found that less than half the states report any mental health information to a federal database used for gun purchases.

At Virginia Tech, emergency services reacted quickly after two people were killed early that morning. But the report says police may have been too quick to decide that a possible suspect was probably no longer in the area. And top administrators are criticized for failing to send out a warning message about the shooting for almost two hours.

Minutes after that, the shootings began in Norris Hall. Still, the committee says quickly securing all buildings would not have been possible.

Some victims' families want the university president and police chief to resign or be dismissed. The governor rejected that idea.

Virginia Tech began a new school year August 20th, a day after a ceremony for a memorial to the 32 victims.

Debating Year-Round Education

2008-04-05T14:00:00.002+08:00

Some families and businesses oppose programs that keep schools open all year. Second of two reports about school calendars in the US.

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Today we continue our discussion of school calendars in the United States.

Some people say the traditional calendar of 180 days no longer meets the needs of American society. They point out that students in most other industrial countries are in school more hours a day and more days a year.

Critics also say a long summer vacation causes students to forget much of what they learned.
Schools are under pressure to raise test scores. Some have changed their calendars to try to improve student performance. They have lengthened the school day or added days to the year or both.

This can be costly if schools need air conditioning on hot days and school employees need to be paid for the extra time.

Local businesses may object to a longer school year because students are unable to work as long at summer jobs.

Some schools have a year-round schedule. The school year is extended over twelve months. Instead of a long vacation, there are many short ones.

The National Association of Year-Round Education says almost 5% of public school students attend year-round schools. It says almost all of the states have some public schools that are open all year.

Some parts of the country had year-round programs in the 19th century, mostly for economic reasons. They felt it wasted money to use school buildings for only part of the year.

Year-round programs can also reduce crowding in schools. In one version, students attend school for nine weeks and then have three weeks off. The students are in groups that are not all in school at the same time.

Another year-round calendar has all students in school together for nine weeks and off for three. This is meant to provide the continuous learning that can be lost over a long break.
But year-round schooling has opponents. They say it can cause problems for families when they want to make summer plans. And they say it interferes with activities outside school -- including summer employment.

Some experts say no really good studies have been done to measure the effect of school calendars on performance. But some educators think year-round schooling especially helps students from poor families that lack educational support at home.

Some (Adults) Call for Shorter Summer Break for US Kids

2008-03-28T14:00:00.001+08:00

Why American students traditionally get a long vacation.

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The traditional American school year begins in late August or early September. It ends in May or June, followed by summer vacation.

Why such a long break? Because long ago, young people had to help their families harvest the summer crops. At least this is what people today may think.

The reason has more to it. A recent report from an education policy center at Indiana University explored the historical roots of the traditional school calendar.

In the early days of the United States, children were not required by law to attend school. School calendars depended on local needs.

Students in rural areas went to school for no more than six months of the year -- half in the summer, half in the winter. They worked on family farms during the other months.

City schools were often open much longer, some for 11 months of the year. Parents were happy to have a place for their children to go while the parents worked.

National leaders took a fresh look at schools after the Civil War, in the 1860's. They saw a free public education as a way to help support a strong democracy and prepare workers for new industries. Immigration was increasing and so was the student population.

More and more people saw the need for a system of required education. But they had different ideas for the calendar.

Many city schools wanted a shorter year and a longer summer break. The schools were often crowded. There was no modern air conditioning and air pollution from factories was a problem.
Hot days would make it difficult to learn. A long summer break would also give teachers time for other jobs to add to their low pay.

Many rural educators, however, pushed for a longer school year. They thought it would keep children safe from industrial dangers at a time when there were few child-labor laws. They also thought it would lead to a better prepared workforce.

So the traditional school calendar was a compromise, with roots that now go back about a century and a half. The average school year used to be 170 days. Times have not changed much. Today the common average is 180.

But some experts think the traditional school calendar needs to change because the needs of the nation have changed. This thinking has led some schools to keep students in class longer. More on that next week.

Teacher in Space Answers Questions From Students

2008-03-21T10:49:00.002+08:00

Barbara Morgan and other astronauts take part in video link from International Space Station.

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"Good morning, Discovery Center -- good afternoon. We're happy to be here with you. This is Al Drew, Clay Anderson, Dave Williams and I'm Barb Morgan. And we are ready for your first question. Welcome aboard the International Space Station."

That was teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, speaking from more than 320 kilometers above the Earth.

CHILDREN: "Hello from Idaho!"

And those were the students she was greeting in the northwestern state of Idaho. They gathered at the Discovery Center in Boise on Tuesday to ask the astronauts questions by video link.

The astronauts already knew what the questions would be. One student asked what stars look like from space.

Basically the answer was that the space shuttle and the space station are kept brightly lit, so it is difficult to see a lot of stars.

BARBARA MORGAN: "In fact, one way to think about that when we're on the International Space Station and all the lights are on when we look outside, it's very much like trying to look at the stars when you're in Boise. You can see some, but then if you go up high in the mountains, up to McCall, and you have all the lights out, that's what it will be like once we undock from [the] station and we can turn all our shuttle lights out, and also for the station folks they can turn all their lights out."

Barbara Morgan taught elementary school in McCall, Idaho, before she trained for space. She and six other astronauts arrived Friday on the shuttle Endeavour to bring supplies and new equipment to the international station.

Barbara Morgan is 55 years old. She taught for many years before she became an astronaut.

QUESTION: "Hi, I'm Sarah Blum. How does being a teacher relate with being an astronaut on this mission?"

BARBARA MORGAN: "Well, astronauts and teachers actually do the same things. We explore, we discover and we share. And the great thing about being a teacher is you get to do that with students. And the great thing about being an astronaut is you get to do it in space. And those are absolutely wonderful jobs."

Barbara Morgan first prepared for a shuttle flight more than 20 years ago. She trained in case NASA needed a substitute for Christa McAuliffe, its choice to become the first teacher in space.

Then, in 1986, Christa McAuliffe died with the Challenger crew when the shuttle exploded shortly after launch.

After the disaster, NASA officials barred other civilians from shuttle flights. But in 1998, they created a new position for teachers to become fully trained astronauts. Barbara Morgan is NASA's first "educator astronaut" launched into orbit.

One of her first tasks was to operate Endeavour's robotic arm to inspect the shuttle for any launch-related damage. Cameras showed a small area hit by a piece of protective foam that fell off the fuel tank. NASA officials say the damage is not a safety threat but they are deciding what to do about it.

Note: Picture depicts Astronaut Barbara Morgan on the space shuttle Endeavour.

FREE EducationUSA ADVISING AT AMERICAN EDUCATION FAIR

2008-03-17T13:18:00.012+08:00

The American Institute in Taiwan will sponsor an EducationUSA booth at the 2008 AIEF Spring American Education Fair in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung. EducationUSA Advisor will be available to meet with potential students and parents about opportunities for study in the USA.

EducationUSA is global network of educational advising centers which actively promote United States higher education by offering accurate, comprehensive, objective and timely information about educational opportunities in the United States.

In Taiwan, there are two EducationUSA centers which provide Taiwan students and their parents with information on how to make a study plan, choose a U.S. school, find financial aid, apply for admission, obtain a U.S. student visa, and prepare for departure. Thousands of students interested in studying in the U.S. got started on this path at one of Taiwan's EducationUSA Advising Centers. For more information about EducationUSA Advising Centers, programs and free group sessions, please log on to http://www.educationusa.org.tw/.

Nicholas Papp, Director of AIT's American Cultural Center, oversees the EducationUSA program in Taiwan "We look forward to seeing and talking with Taiwan students at the American Education Fair," Papp said. "The U.S. remains the top choice for overseas study in Taiwan. Our doors are open, and we warmly welcome you to join the nearly 30,000 Taiwan students who are realizing their dreams by studying in the USA."

Advisors from Taiwan's EducationUSA centers will be available to meet students at the 2008 AIEF Spring American Education Fair events in Taipei on March 23 and 24 at the Howard Plaza Hotel; in Kaohsiung on March 25 at the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel; and in Taichung on March 26 at the Evergreen Laurel Hotel.

「留學美國」諮詢中心將在美國教育展提供免費諮詢服務

美國在台協會將在2008年美國教育基金會（AIEF）春季美國教育展，於台北、高雄和台中舉行時，設置「留學美國」攤位。「留學美國」諮詢中心的顧問會在現場，提供有關美國進修機會的資訊，給有意留學美國的學生和家長。

「留學美國」是由各地教育諮詢中心組成的全球網絡，透過提供有關美國教育機會的正確、完整、客觀且及時的資訊，來積極推廣美國高等教育。

台灣有兩個「留學美國」諮詢中心，為台灣的學生和家長提供如何擬訂留學計劃、選擇學校、申請入學許可、尋找獎助學金、取得學生簽證和準備出發的資訊。有數以千計對留美有興趣的的學生，是從這兩個諮詢中心之一展開他們的留學之路。有關「留學美國」諮詢中心、相關活動和免費團體諮詢的更多資訊，請上網站查詢﹕http://www.educationusa.org.tw/。

台灣的「留學美國」計劃，由美國在台協會美國文化中心主任潘柏楷負責。他表示﹕「我們期盼在美國教育展會場與台灣的學生碰面和交談。」潘主任說﹕「美國仍舊是台灣學生出國留學的第一選擇。我們的門戶敞開，熱誠歡迎大家加入將近三萬個正在美國進修、努力實現他們夢想的台灣留學生。」

台灣「留學美國」諮詢中心的顧問，在春季美國教育展期間提供服務的時間和地點是﹕3月23、24日在台北市福華大飯店；3月25日在高雄市漢來大飯店；3月26日在台中市長榮桂冠酒店。

Few US Schools Now Named for People, Especially Presidents of Fun

2008-03-14T14:00:00.002+08:00

Study warns of loss for civic education in trend toward choosing names of things like animals or trees.

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Public schools in New York, America's biggest city, commonly have numbers for names. But this is unusual. In the United States, the process of naming a school often involves parents and the community as well as elected school leaders.

Researchers say school names can show civic values and also shape them. For example, naming a school after a historic person becomes a way to teach students about that person's importance in history.

A new study examines the naming of American public schools. The study is from the Manhattan Institute, an organization that does public policy research.

The study shows that fewer and fewer schools are being named after people. Instead, more schools are being named after the local area or natural features like hills, trees or animals. The researchers say these changes raise questions about the civic duty of public education.

They looked at seven states with 20% of all public school students in the country. They found similar results in every state: new schools are less likely to be named after people.

This is true especially with presidents. For example, in Arizona, public schools in the past 20 years were almost 50 times more likely to be named after such things as landforms or plants.

In Florida, out of almost 3,000 public schools, the report says five honor George Washington, the nation's first president. 11 honor the manatee, an endangered sea animal found in that state.

In fact, the study says that today, a majority of all public school districts nationwide do not have a single school named after a president.

School officials say they try to choose names that will not offend anyone. For example, a few years ago, the city of New Orleans banned the naming of any school after a person who owned slaves. Other school systems have rules against naming new schools after any person, living or dead.

The researchers say naming a school after a person can lead to important debates about democratic values. They call for more research to identify the causes and effects of the changes in school names.

The causes may include changes in American culture as well as in the political control of school systems. One area worth exploring, they say, is the link between trends in school names and weak results for public schools on measures of civic education.

Specialty Summer Camps Offer Kids More Choices of Fun

2008-03-07T14:00:00.004+08:00

The growing popularity of technology camps and other substitutes for a traditional experience in the woods.

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Millions of children in the United States go to summer camp. Some go to play outdoors at traditional camps in the woods, in the mountains or on a lake.

But families now have many choices of specialty camps. These can be in the middle of nature or a big city. Specialty camps offer young people the chance to learn about different subjects. Anything from space exploration to business to medicine.

In technology camps, one subject that children can learn about is video game design. They learn how to use computer programs to create games of their own.

One program that teaches video game design is called Cybercamps, located at the University of Maryland. Children can learn how to design their own virtual worlds to set their video game in. Then, they program their own rules and objects into the game.

Cybercamps also offers courses in robot building and Web design. A recent story in the Washington Post described how one child made a robot that could sing a song. Another made a robot that could follow a black line drawn on a piece of cardboard. Also, children can learn how to make Web sites. One child made a site for Pokemon, one of his favorite cartoon shows.

Kids-N-Technology is a day camp offered in several American cities. Boys and girls age eight to 18 get the chance to build their own desktop or laptop computer or game machine. They take it home after the camp is over.

In the past twenty years, the number of day camps in the United States has grown by almost 90%. Still, more than half of all camps are overnight camps. But the American Camp Association says, over all, the most popular length of time for kids to attend a summer camp is one week or less.

Brown University:Allowing Students To Create and Soar Intellectually and Individually

2008-03-01T17:21:00.001+08:00

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Providence Rhode Island is where Brown University is located and where Jamaican native Carrie Ann Gordon has chosen to attend. “I am not necessarily sure if I chose Brown or if Brown chose me. I applied to a decent amount of schools in the U.S. because I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for and Brown accepted me. They offered a good amount of scholarship or financial aid so that was also part of the reasons why I came here and it also had a really good liberal arts vibe,” she says.

Brown says you do not have to chose your major, you don’t have any core requirements, you could do whatever classes you wanted to do and then from there choose what you wanted to do for your life.”

Chemistry and Africana Studies are the two subjects Carrie Ann is majoring in at the university. She says Brown is a place where the people and the faculty make you feel welcome and glad that you are going there. “Right now, in the Chemistry department if I need help applying to graduate school, I’ve been able to talk to numerous professors and just say like ‘hi my name is Carrie Ann. I was wondering if you have heard of this school. This program. What do you think I should focus on if I am applying to Chemistry graduate school?’ They have been really supportive,” she says. “The Africana Studies department which is the second department that I deal with are really nice. They are just amazing people in the way that they embrace you and they want to know if you are okay, if you see them on the streets they will say hello. Sometimes they will pull you and say ‘hey, do you want lunch?’ So that is definitely good,” she says.

“The atmosphere at Brown has been really good for the most part. I haven’t had problems finding friends and there are people here who are of Jamaican decent so they are American, but their parents may be from Jamaica and that helps in some sort of a commonality. Also, the year I came to Brown two other Jamaicans came so I wasn’t alone in that and I am actually good friends with one right now,” she says.

“It is a pretty good environment. The deans are supportive and there is an advisory system and if you know how to use it, it can be extremely beneficial to your life.”

This is Carrie-Ann's senior year and she realizes that attending Brown has helped her reach her full potential to doing whatever she wants to do in life. “I think education is more than sitting in a college classroom and learning numbers and I guess chemical formulas in my field of study,” she says. “I think education is about learning about the world around you and how you yourself can contribute to the world. Jamaica doesn’t have the best educational system in the world and I think it is not because they don’t have a good syllabus or a good idea of what they should be teaching people, its just that education isn’t accessible to everyone and because not everyone can get the education that they need to survive or thrive in that society we have poverty and I guess people not being able to reach their full potential.”

Carrie-Ann says regardless what she does she will be going back home to help her country. “When choosing my major I was like I can’t choose something that I couldn’t utilize there because if I plan to live there and I choose a major that I can’t get a decent job or gainful employment then I am wasting my time at Brown,” she says. But what I realize is that getting a degree that you can use off the bat, like being a doctor knowing you can do medicine, but if getting a degree that you love and that I can use to like create a life of my own so that I can create the job that I want there and I believe that if I am able to find exactly what I want to do in my life and I know I want to do it there, then I will be willing to work to utilize whatever resources I have to be able to build whatever I want to build there,” she says. “

I think my education whatever it is can be used like I don’t necessary think the choice of like what my major is, but more of me being happy with what I have learned at Brown and utilizing it in anyway I see fit at home and that will be beneficial to my country.”

Evidence for School Uniform Policies in US Seen as Weak

2008-03-01T14:00:00.003+08:00

Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better learning environment and safer schools. But studies find mixed results. Second of two reports.

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In 1999, 12% of public elementary schools in the United States required students to wear uniforms. Just three years later, estimates were almost double that.

Some middle and high schools have also joined the movement. Yet studies find mixed results from requiring uniforms. And some schools have turned away from such policies.

Supporters believe dressing the same creates a better learning environment and safer schools. The school district in Long Beach, California, was the first in the country to require uniforms in all elementary and middle schools.

That was in 1994. The example helped build national interest in uniforms as a way to deal with school violence and improve learning.

Findings in Long Beach suggested that the policy resulted in fewer behavior problems and better attendance. But researcher Viktoria Stamison has looked at those findings. She says they were based only on opinions about the effects of uniforms.

She says other steps taken at the same time to improve schools in Long Beach and statewide could have influenced the findings. The district increased punishments for misbehavior. And California passed a law to reduce class sizes.

Her report is among several in a book published last year called "Uniforms in Public Schools: A Decade of Research and Debate."

In Florida, for example, researcher Sharon Pate found that uniforms seemed to improve behavior and reduce violence. In Texas, Eloise Hughes found fewer discipline problems among students required to wear uniforms, but no effect on attendance.

Sociologist David Brunsma has studied school uniform policies since 1998. He collected the reports in the book. In his own study, he found that reading and mathematics performance dropped after a school in rural Pennsylvania required uniforms.

Political and community pressures may persuade schools to go to uniforms to improve learning. But David Brunsma and others believe there is not enough evidence of a direct relationship. In fact, he says requiring uniforms may even increase discipline problems.

But researchers also say studies of uniform policies are often scientifically limited. They say more work is needed to get better information.

Students Do Not Always Like Being Told What to Wear (Duh!)

2008-02-21T14:00:00.002+08:00

A look at clothing policies in American schools.

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A listener in Fukuoka, Japan, Shinji Abe, would like to know about school uniform policies in the United States.

American schoolchildren often wear uniforms if they attend religious or other private schools. Most public schools do not require uniforms. But over the last ten years or so, more of them have moved in that direction, including high schools.

Students may have to wear a specially purchased uniform. Or they may just have to dress alike -- for example, white shirts and dark colored pants or skirts.

Even schools that do not require uniforms generally have a dress code or other rules about what they consider acceptable. Policies commonly ban clothing that shows offensive images or words, or simply too much skin. Items like hats may be restricted because, for example, different colors may be connected with violent gangs.

Some parents like the idea of uniforms. Some say it means they do not have to spend as much on clothing for their kids. Others, though, argue that uniforms represent an unnecessary cost. There are also debates about whether uniforms or other dress policies violate civil rights.

Students and parents have taken legal action against school dress requirements. Just last week, a judge blocked a middle school in Napa, California, from enforcing a dress code unless families have a way out of it.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California brought the case for the families of several students who were punished. Most attention centered on a girl who wore socks with the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh.

The school said its clothing policy, including no pictures of any kind, was needed to control a growing problem with gangs. The families argued that the policy violated free speech rights as guaranteed by the United States and California constitutions.

The United States Supreme Court says student expression is protected as long as it does not harm the work and discipline of a school.

Americans value individual freedom. But some educators believe dressing alike helps improve student learning. They believe that uniforms help create a sense of unity and reduce the risk of fights. They also say uniforms make it easier for security reasons to tell if someone belongs at the school or not.

But just how effective are school uniform policies? Studies have found mixed results. That will be our subject next week.

China, Russia Win Top Results in Physics Olympiad in Iran

2008-02-14T14:00:00.002+08:00

High school students from 73 countries, including the US, competed in Isfahan.

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More than 300 secondary school students competed in the 38th International Physics Olympiad last month in Iran. They came from 73 countries, including the United States.

Students from China had the top results: four gold medals and one silver. Russia was second with three gold, one silver and one honorable mention.

Next came the United States and South Korea. Each team brought home two gold medals and three silver medals. And the teams from Iran and Japan had two gold, two silver and one bronze medal each.

The ten-day Olympiad took place in the ancient city of Isfahan. There were written examinations and laboratory experiments as well as discussion meetings.

And there was news of the death in Isfahan of the president of the International Physics Olympiad. Waldemar Gorzkowski was 67 years old. The Iranian Students News Agency said he died of a heart attack. He led the Olympiad for many years.

The physics competition is one of the International Science Olympiads held around the world.
The American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics choose members of the United States team. Physics teachers across the country nominate students and committees choose about two hundred of them. The students take additional tests to choose the twenty-four members of the team.

In May the members attend the United States Physics Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland. They go through nine days of intensive studying, testing and problem solving. At the end of the camp, five members of the team are chosen to travel to the Olympiad.

The five this year were Kenan Diab of Ohio, Rui Hu of Delaware, Jenny Kwan from California, Jason LaRue of Florida and Haofei Wei from Oklahoma. All five won medals.

The first International Physics Olympiad took place in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967. Until the early 1980's it was held only in the former communist countries of eastern Europe. The United States organized a team for the first time in 1986.

Historic Antioch College Faces an Unsure Future

2008-02-07T14:00:00.004+08:00

A shortage of students and money leads to a disputed plan to close the Ohio school next July and reopen in 2012.

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Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a private liberal-arts school with a history of social activism. It was the first American college to name a woman as a full professor and one of the first to admit students of all races.

Antioch also became one of the first to offer work study programs, so students could gain experience in jobs. And it was among the first to stop using grades to record progress.

A Protestant group known as the Christian Church started Antioch College in 1852. Even in those days it was different from most other American colleges because it admitted women as well as men.

During the 1960's, Antioch students were active in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. At that time, the college had more than 2,000. But times changed.

In 1978 Antioch University was created. Antioch College became the undergraduate residential program.

But it has struggled with a shortage of students and money. School officials say students are rejecting the college because it lacks modern dormitories, wireless Internet or new athletic buildings. The number of students has dropped to only 400 this past year.

Now, the university Board of Trustees has voted to suspend operations at Antioch College next July. School officials say the goal is reopen the college in 2012. They say they want to raise enough money to design what they call a 21st century campus.

Today Antioch University has five other campuses around the country designed to serve working adults. The closure will not affect the other campuses.

Some people say Antioch's expansion is one reason the college is in financial trouble. But university officials say the other campuses have been helping to support Antioch College. They say the college has been operating at a loss for several years.

Antioch College has been closed and reopened three times already in its history, for financial and other reasons. Teachers and former students have talked about the possibility of legal action to try to stop the new plan. The Antioch College Alumni Association has been collecting money to try to keep the school from closing again -- or at least make sure it reopens.

School Ends, and So Too Does Our Foreign Student Series

2008-02-01T14:30:00.000+08:00

A look at graduation time in America.

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Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.
Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies.

Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.

They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.

Graduations are always emotional events. But in May, at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, a graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major area of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Nola Ochs is 95 years old.

That made her the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the Guinness World Records. Until now they have recognized a 90 year old journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma in 2004.

Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of the commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson from Nola Ochs and never stop trying.

That is good advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We began in September with the process of applying to an American college or university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online education, student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a lot more.

Population experts at the Census Bureau say American colleges and universities will have an estimated 18 million students this fall. Twenty years ago, there were 13 million. Today there are not only more college-age Americans, but more going to college, including older people and women. At last report from two years ago, 56% of undergraduates were women. And women were 59% of graduate students.

A Look at Washington University

2008-01-24T14:04:00.000+08:00

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A student at Xinjiang Normal University in China has a question for our Foreign Student Series. Akbar Mamat wants to go overseas after graduation and would like some information about Washington University.

Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, is a medium-sized school in the Midwest. It has almost 11,000 students. 12% this last school year were international students, mostly graduate students.

The university has schools for law, medicine and social work. It also has a business school, a school of design and visual arts and a school of engineering and applied science. But more than 70% of courses are taught through the Arts and Sciences program.

The new school year that begins this fall will cost $52,000 for undergraduates. That includes twelve months of living expenses estimated at $17,000.

Graduate tuition differs by program. Tuition for the Master of Social Work program, for example, will cost $27,000 in the coming year. The Master of Business Administration program will cost about $38,000.

The university offers financial assistance to international students, including first-year students, but says its resources are limited.

Scholarships are available. The university also offers a monthly payment plan to spread out the cost of tuition. And it offers loan programs.

International students in the United States generally cannot receive federal student loans. But they may be able to take out private loans, as many American students do. The student loan industry is in the news right now. Investigations are looking at questionable dealings between colleges and lenders.

Washington University in Saint Louis was named Eliot Seminary when it opened in 1853. Later the name was changed to honor the first American president, George Washington.

But other schools share the name Washington, including the University of Washington and George Washington University. So in 1976 Washington University added the words "in Saint Louis" to its name.

'America's Oldest University': Why Penn Can Make Claim

2008-01-17T13:41:00.000+08:00

The University of Pennsylvania was recognized a year before Harvard. Yet Harvard came first.

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Thu Ya Naing from Burma wants to know how many colleges and universities are in the United States. Alexander Romashchenko in Russia wonders which university in the United States is the oldest. And Mohamad Firouzi in Iran would like to know more about Harvard University.

The National Center for Education Statistics says more than 4,200 colleges and universities award degrees. These include two-year schools as well as four-year schools.

The oldest institution of higher learning in the country is Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was established in 1636 as Harvard College. Massachusetts was an English colony at the time.

The school was named for a Puritan religious leader. John Harvard gave the college all his books and half his property when he died.

At first, Harvard had one teacher and nine students. Today it has almost 20,000 students. Nearly 4,000 of them this past year were from outside the United States.

There are 14 schools at Harvard. They include Harvard College and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Harvard College is the undergraduate division of the university and Radcliffe is a former college for women.

So Harvard came first. Later, in 1780, the Massachusetts Constitution went into effect and officially recognized Harvard as a university. Some Harvard materials call it America's oldest university.

But the University of Pennsylvania calls itself America's oldest university. Penn officials note that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recognized their school as a university in 1779. That was one year before Harvard.

Yet the history gets a little complex. Penn considers its anniversary date to be 1740. That was when the Charity School of Philadelphia was established, though it never opened. Benjamin Franklin later presented his ideas for a learning institution that included the Charity School. It opened in 1751 and became the university.

Today, more than 23,000 students attend the University of Pennsylvania. 4,000 of them come from other countries.

Note: First picture is Harvard Hall; Second picture is College Hall at the University of Pennsylvania.

Studying Religion in the US

2008-01-10T13:32:00.000+08:00

We look at one of the largest seminaries in North America

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A Chinese woman studying business law in Japan has a question about studying a different kind of law. Wang Yuxian says she is a Christian and would like to know about theological seminary programs for foreign students in the United States.

A theological seminary is a graduate school of religion and a professional school for training religious leaders.

Foreign students who want to study at a seminary in the United States apply just as they would to any other graduate school. They have to meet the academic and English language requirements and prove they would be able to pay for their studies.

Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, is one of the largest in North America. Today it has more than 4,000 students from about 70 countries.

Fuller is one of 253 schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. An accredited school is one that has passed inspection by a rating group like the association. All of the schools are Christian. But other schools train leaders in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other faith traditions.

The Fuller Theological Seminary opened in 1947. It has three schools: Theology, Intercultural Studies and Psychology. It also has a center for lifelong learning.

Students at Fuller can earn a doctor of ministry degree or more than 20 other graduate degrees. Examples include a master's degree in marital and family therapy and a master's in global leadership.

There are also degree programs taught in Korean and Spanish. And Fuller admits some students through its English as a second language program.

Some degree programs cost more than others. One year at Fuller can cost anywhere from $12,000 to $24,000.

International students can apply for scholarships and grants. But Fuller says that normally they will not be permitted to work during the time of their studies. The same is true for family members.