Australia Takes the Lead over the U.S.
Posted on October 15th, 2005 in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an important story: Australia has become the destination of choice for fee-paying college students. That’s surprising news given that the United States has traditionally held this spot by a wide margin, and did so up until the last such survey, five years ago.
Why is this important?
Several reasons.
First off, it’s obviously important for American colleges, which often make quite a lot of money off foreign students, especially (and obviously) those who don’t require financial aid.
Second, the United States benefits immensely from the presence of foreign students. Many of them stay here and add their talents to the workforce and culture of the country. The ones who return home bring with them a greater understanding of the United States that promotes better international relations.
And third, this shift is important because it reflects how the rest of the world views the United States. It’s clearly no coincidence that this student exodus has occurred during the presidency of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. The rest of the world doesn’t like us very much now, and we’re going to pay the consequences of that for many years to come.
2 Responses
10/15/2005 12:36 pm
Thanks for pointing out this article. It’s important, regardless of how accurate it may be. Although I agree that America may be seen, however wrongly, as unwelcoming more than in the past, I think this probably has much more to do with Australia being inundated by Asian culture. There was a great series on PBS several years ago called “Beyond the Fatal Shore” (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/australia/) -about how the culture of Australia has been changing exponentially due to Asian vacationing and immigration. I can’t help but think this plays a significant role, perhaps a much bigger role than a fear of America. I’m sure it’s much cheaper (not to mention closer) for Asian students to school there, and I’m also sure it’s become-at the same time-more acceptable to do so among the Asian population (rather than regarding it as second rate to America). As we all know, college students are proud and often misguidedly ideallistic. Don’t you think it’s sounds better to say that “America isn’t welcoming” rather than “my parents won’t have to sell there house for me to go here.” Just a thought. I mean, I’m sure that America’s image has been tarnished, but get real, the kind of students that come to America for university aren’t coming here to join the frats.
10/15/2005 2:12 pm
Mitch,
I think this is very true, and I think it’s also true that visa restrictions and complications have played a part as well. And yes, the cost is absolutely a factor.
But I do think that the image of the United States abroad is a component.
You’re good to point out the other issues involved, though.
Richard