A Q&A with author Rajika Bhandari on why outdated immigration policies are harming America’s ability to attract and retain foreign students.
Virginia Postrel: You came to the United States as a graduate student in psychology in 1992 and have worked for many years at the Institute for International Education and other international education jobs. Your new book, America Calling, is a memoir of your own experience and a report on the general condition of international students in the United States. How does your current student experience differ from when you came?
Radika Bandari, author, “American Call: International Students in Possible Countries”: Students approach foreign credential ideas in a completely different way. They see it from the perspective of a very savvy consumer. Should I go to America? Is it the highest return on investment for my family’s money? Or am I going to the UK or another country? Students are getting information in an unprecedented way.
However, there are many things that haven’t changed. First and foremost, there are permanent challenges surrounding immigration. This dominates the existence of international student life in the United States and is never fully understood by most who do not need to experience it.
Another thing that remains the same is that international students, especially those from a society and culture that is dramatically different from the United States, are not completely prepared for a very different academic culture. The idea of a college classroom as a very open and democratic environment. The idea of being truly independent in your learning. The idea that you can and should ask the professor because you are actually evaluated for your ability to express your thoughts clearly and think critically. This can be a real shock to many students from very traditional Asian cultures where there is a strict hierarchy in the classroom. God forbids you to ask the professor.
VP: What is the current breakdown of graduate and undergraduate students?
RB: Until about 10 years ago, international students in the United States were dominated by students coming to the United States to earn a master’s or doctoral degree. Then there was this great influx of young Chinese students at the undergraduate level, with the significant growth of China’s middle class. We’ve seen more undergraduates come to the United States over the past few years, but some of this year’s statistics show that the gap is narrowing again.
One of the reasons is that most foreign undergraduates were full-paying students. They really fund the profits of US institutions. But they are also the ones whose families were really financially affected by the pandemic. In many countries, the middle class itself is shrinking. Many families are now rethinking whether they can afford to pay for their children’s education abroad.
VP: What do Americans do not understand about the experience of international students?
RB: From technology to academia to medicine, people often don’t understand how important international students have been to the history of success in the United States since the 1960s. One of the co-founders of Moderna was an international student. The new CEO of Twitter was an international student. Many Americans know that these individuals are immigrants, but it is not well understood what the journey was and why education was a really important aspect of the journey.
VP: There is a kind of pantomime established by all concerned, where students study abroad in the United States and then return to their home countries. That is the basis of student visas. It was your intention when you came. How unrealistic is that model?
RB: That question is at the heart of why I wrote this book. In the United States, there is growing dissatisfaction with the desire to have a frank conversation about the path from higher education to skilled talent and how countries are expanding their talent pools.
In almost every developed country (see UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and many others), the path from education to immigration has been ubiquitous for a very long time. Not so in the United States. According to statistics, 70-80% of international students continue to stay in the United States after studying. Nevertheless, the flow of international students is seen within this “exchange” framework, as you mentioned earlier. But it’s not a replacement. Much more students are coming than they are going. The number of participants in the exchange program, like the flagship Fulbright program, is very small. Most students who come here are personally motivated students who fund their way.
One of the biggest challenges is that F-1 international student visas continue to be called “single intent visas”. This means that a 17-year-old undergraduate must stand in front of a consulate employee in his home country. “Yes, I’m sure I’ll be back in four years,” he says. How can I find out? We don’t ask 17-year-olds in the United States to know exactly what to decide in four years. I think most students are honest and say what they think is right for them. That was true to me. But you evolve and change.
VP: So what kind of reforms do you propose for the system?
RB: First, remove the single-purpose requirement for student visas. Another problem is that through the Optional Practical Training Program, the applied work opportunities that international students have after studying are incredibly at a loss. The program was not created by law. So it’s like having a sword hanging on every international student. After studying, will I be able to continue working for the past year? What will happen?
More generally, you need to smooth the path from becoming a student to joining the workforce. The current limits and backlog are very important. It’s a matter of seeing the talent that the United States is losing, that is, the talent trained in the United States.
VP: How does the US immigration system shape the experience of international students while they are here? How do you experience different things from similar American students who may be in the same program?
RB: There is a sense of this uncertain uncertainty that dominates your entire time in the United States. There are numerous immigration rules that must be observed, for example, the amount of course work required for each semester. Most American students, especially graduate students, are free to take a break from the semester. “I will continue to enroll, but I will work for the World Bank for two years.” International students do not have that freedom. You are an international student. Everything you do in your learning program complies with immigration rules.
Ironically, in this book, many say they have the stereotype that “international students are excellent, get a PhD in just five or six years, and are very smart.” It’s not smart. There is no choice. There is no choice but to continue the march and meet these requirements. Otherwise, you will soon lose your status and have to return to your country.
This sense of uncertainty floats above you as you follow that path. It’s an endless process of waiting and not knowing. You are applying for a work permit for Optional Practical Training and are waiting because you do not know when it will pass. You can then apply for an H1-B work permit. And it comes with its own uncertainty. It dominates the entire existence of international students in a way that American students don’t even have to think about.
VP: How does that compare to your experience in Canada?
RB: Canadian policy is much more friendly to international students because of the clear understanding that education is the path to career and workforce.
VP: Many people who want to limit but do not want to eliminate immigrants want to bias immigrants to highly educated individuals who bring a lot of human capital. But I’m worried about some of the potential side effects of that model. Part of the implicit American social contract (not always respected) is that we respect each other as individuals, especially in the context of work. We respect the people who work. We do not look down on them because it is a low-paying job or requires less education. The work itself deserves respect. Is accepting many privileged people from a hierarchical society like India at risk of eroding the egalitarian relationships of everyday American life? Do people from the elite of a highly stratified society bring their views with them and inject them into everyday life in America?
RB: That’s a great question. And I don’t put myself any further. I think there is something special about entering a new society as a student. Because you are like a sponge, an era when your values, ideas and beliefs are still being shaped. As such, that experience can have profound and transformative implications for people. And that definitely influenced me.
I think you’ve come up with many of the ideas you’ve just presented from a very rigorously structured society that transcends classes. I had my own prejudices and beliefs about race, color, and dignity of labor. Being in the United States forced me to face my own prejudices, evolve, open up my thoughts, and hopefully change to be a better person.
That is one of the things I have been telling students these days. When they ask me, I want to come to America and study, how can I succeed? One of my challenges to them is to really think about opening ourselves about how society can actually change you.
VP: How did studying and living in the United States help you to better understand India?
RB: When you leave home and are long enough away, it really gives you a sense of its objectivity and the feeling that outsiders are looking into it — you really know society, but you’re still a step away. is separated. For me, those learnings were mainly about sexism and my position in the world as a young woman. Looking at my hometown and my society, I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted for myself, but what I wanted something different.
VP: This book certainly has a negative experience, but it made me feel good about the country. It was a positive view of America. It wasn’t a beautiful fairy tale, but if you want to come and stay here, there must be something good in this country.
RB: I’m really happy to hear you say so. What attracts people to the United States? I say in the book that it was the country that gave the world Indiana Jones. I wasn’t trying to look down, but say that there is this idea of freedom embodied in various ways, such as freedom of thought, freedom of pursuit of aspirations, freedom of reinventing oneself.
VP: You have a great example of your surprise when you see someone in the United States who had braces as an adult. You see it as a sign of reinventing yourself.
RB: As soon as a student arrives here, he encounters that freedom, which manifests itself in many ways. They are forced to think in ways they have never experienced before. And I think that’s what really attracts people here. Despite all the challenges the country has faced in the last four or five years, it still exists.
Bloomberg
