Spring Break
Legislature passes international education bill
Whitney Haynes
Issue date: 3/12/07 Section: News
Only seven states have passed similar resolutions, including Texas and Oklahoma. Arkansas will be among the first universities to pass this type of resolution in the South, Long said.
"Our goal is to have this resolution passed in all 50 states, which would motivate the federal government to implement a national international education policy and to find more strategic plans to improve access for international students and scholars coming here to Arkansas," Long said.
A national policy would generate more global understanding, show that the United States is friendly to international students and affect immigration reform and commerce, she said.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government placed harsh restrictions on international students, and the number of UA international students dropped significantly, Long said.
"After 9/11, there was so much fear of terrorism that it became very, very difficult for students and scholars to obtain visas," she said.
Instead of improving the visa tracking systems, the government created a backlash on international education with the new restrictions, she said.
Study abroad offices all over the country faced new visa challenges, and advisers were forced to spend more time working them out, said Katherine Quinn, a UA study abroad adviser.
While international enrollment at universities in the United States went down because of the harsher restrictions, enrollment in countries such as England and Australia went up, Long said.
In the last few years, however, the number of study abroad and international exchange students began to pick back up, Long said, with the office now sending more than 500 students abroad each year.
The UA leads the state with more than 900 international students enrolled from more than 100 countries, with the majority coming from India and China, Quinn said.
Long contacted Smith last spring with the idea for a resolution to help reinvigorate the international education program, and Smith was hugely supportive of the concept, making it one of her reelection campaign promises last fall, Long said.
"Our goal is to have this resolution passed in all 50 states, which would motivate the federal government to implement a national international education policy and to find more strategic plans to improve access for international students and scholars coming here to Arkansas," Long said.
A national policy would generate more global understanding, show that the United States is friendly to international students and affect immigration reform and commerce, she said.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government placed harsh restrictions on international students, and the number of UA international students dropped significantly, Long said.
"After 9/11, there was so much fear of terrorism that it became very, very difficult for students and scholars to obtain visas," she said.
Instead of improving the visa tracking systems, the government created a backlash on international education with the new restrictions, she said.
Study abroad offices all over the country faced new visa challenges, and advisers were forced to spend more time working them out, said Katherine Quinn, a UA study abroad adviser.
While international enrollment at universities in the United States went down because of the harsher restrictions, enrollment in countries such as England and Australia went up, Long said.
In the last few years, however, the number of study abroad and international exchange students began to pick back up, Long said, with the office now sending more than 500 students abroad each year.
The UA leads the state with more than 900 international students enrolled from more than 100 countries, with the majority coming from India and China, Quinn said.
Long contacted Smith last spring with the idea for a resolution to help reinvigorate the international education program, and Smith was hugely supportive of the concept, making it one of her reelection campaign promises last fall, Long said.
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