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SEVIS General Summary Quarterly Review: September 2011

27/10/2011

This quarterly report (PDF) is a statistical breakdown of the system’s performance and trends in foreign student representation in U.S. academic and exchange programs. On 30 September 2011, SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) contained records for 1,219,448 active nonimmigrant students, exchange visitors, and their dependents. The total number of records for all F-1, M-1, and J-1 visa holders has increased to approximately 9 million.

Vietnam enrollments jumped from 16,124 in June 2011 to 18,548, a hefty 15% increase, much of which can be attributed to the new academic year.

Below are some highlights from the latest quarterly snapshot:

  • Vietnam continues to lead the third tier of “top ten” schools (8th) with more students in the US than Mexico (9th) or Brazil (10th).
  • China continues to have the highest number of active students (201,494, a 33% increase in three months) with South Korea distant second (110,643).
  • Business continues to be the leading major for international students (180,337) 69% of active students are enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programs.
  • California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida and Pennsylvania host 55% of all active students 36% of all SEVP-approved schools are in California, New York, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania.
  • Of SEVIS-approved schools with active students, the visa distribution is as follows: 83%/F, 11% F/M and 6%/M. Of the top five F-1 and M-1 approved schools three are community colleges: Cornell University (4,712 active students), Santa Monica College (3,546), Houston Community College System (3,474), and Northern Virginia Community College (2,310).
  • The top five F-1 approved schools are CUNY (10,571), USC (9,072), Purdue University (8,799) University of Illinois (8,799) and Columbia University (7,808). Most experienced sizable increases.
  • Adding a new category (for this blog) the top five schools with active students on a M-1 visa are: Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (501), TransPac Aviation Academy (359), Florida Institute of Technology (293), U.S. Flight Academy (224) and ORLANDO FLIGHT TRAINING (198).  At least one of these institutions warrants its very own blog post.

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Study in the States (US Department of Homeland Security)

24/10/2011

This is good news for international students and a wise policy move for the United States.  Perhaps the first steps towards laying a groundwork for a national export council for higher education?  I look forward to learning more specifics.  The devil is always in the details.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching a new initiative to enhance our nation’s economic, scientific and technological competitiveness by finding new, innovative ways to encourage the best and brightest international students to study and remain in the United States. Foreign students bring invaluable contributions to our nation, and the Study in the States initiative is an important step in empowering the next generation of international entrepreneurs right here in America.

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama made two references to international students.  The first is that the US is “home to the world’s best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth.”  The second is about international students who end up competing against the US (my bold italics).

      One last point about education.  Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens.  Some are the children of undocumented workers…  Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities.  But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us.  It makes no sense. 

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Selling at Any Price

23/10/2011

Tacky:  Showing poor taste and quality.  That’s a rather charitable description of this Facebook ad currently running in Vietnam for a MA in Finance and International Trade program from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK), offered in cooperation with its Vietnamese partner, the Institute of Finance.  It’s been less than three weeks since Mr. Jobs passed away and already someone is using a photo of him to sell something to which he has/had no connection.

And just for good measure why not throw in an alternate ad with that old standby, Bill Gates?

 This honor (or prestige) by association approach is common in Vietnam, where there’s a Bill Gates School and an Alfred Nobel High School.  What’s next?  The Steve Jobs School?  Why not just try to sell an education “product” on its own merits sans the tacky come-on?  Shame on both the UK institution and its Vietnamese partner for this outrageous display of bad taste. 

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Education UK: Vietnam Country Partner Meeting

21/10/2011

I was invited to speak on Friday, 14 October to representatives from 60 British colleges and universities who were in Vietnam for a series of events, including the UK higher education fairs in Hanoi, HCMC and Danang.  My assigned topic was The Study Abroad Market:  A US Perspective. 

During the 30 minutes or so at my disposal, I focused on the status of the US as the “preferred overseas study destination” of Vietnamese students based on an unscientific Internet survey (IIE-Vietnam, 2009), anecdotal evidence and a look at the sheer numbers of  young Vietnamese studying in the US, mostly at the undergraduate level. (Vietnam ranks 6th in international undergraduate enrollment; most begin at a community college and then transfer to a four-year school to complete the bachelor’s degree.) 

According to the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), there were 2640 Vietnamese higher education students as of September 2010.  (Like Open Doors data, HESA data are always a year old.)  51% were undergraduates and 49% postgraduates. 

In a section about the influence of  US higher education in Vietnam I took the liberty of quoting myself from a June 2011 article entitled Letting in the Fresh Air and the Flies: The Mixed Impact of US Higher Education on Vietnam in which I wrote The bittersweet fact is that the United States exports some of the world’s best and worst higher education.  This was in reference to the sizable number of US-based unaccredited institutions operating in Vietnam and the less than stellar nationally accredited schools, most of which are for-profit, online universities. 

One question I posed to the audience was What do the Bergin University of Canine Studies and Harvard University have in common?  Do you know the answer(s)?  1) They’re both accredited!  The former is nationally accredited (i.e., ACICS) and the latter is regionally accredited (i.e., (NEASC).  2) Since they are both accredited, the US State Department’s global network of EducationUSA advising centers is charged with representing both. 

While the US is the world’s second leading destination for Vietnamese students after Australia, many more could be benefiting from US higher education, if the student visa denial rate weren’t so high.  (The overall issuance rate is below 60% while the rates for the UK and Australia are 84% and 78.6%, respectively.)  Essentially, 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which states that Every alien shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for admission, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status…, is an Achilles’ heel in US visa policy.  The US could learn from other countries that recognize the practical (economic) imperative for a certain percentage of international students to emigrate.  

Other issues I was asked to discuss were US government plans to attract more Vietnamese students and US government strategy as it relates to educational exchange.  I highlighted the role of former Ambassador Michael Michalak as the Education Ambassador and all of the resources (and requests for additional resources, including those contained in the April 2008 U.S.-Vietnam Education Memo) devoted to educational exchange.  I predicted that education would remain a high priority during the tenure of Ambassador Shear.  Included in the folder of information that I distributed to each participant received was a copy of a document entitled Public Diplomacy in Vietnam: Opportunities in Education, released in 2010 by the US Mission in Vietnam.  A number of recently released Wikileaks diplomatic cables related to education reveal ongoing and concerted efforts to exploit Vietnam’s (educational) crisis as a means of exercising soft power and even molding Vietnam in America’s image.   

I noted that the US has been resting on its laurels, quoting Mitch Leventhal, SUNY Vice Chancellor for Global Affairs, who wrote in a May 2011 Chronicle of Higher Education article calling for the establishment of a national export council for higher education “Yet despite our nation’s historic advantage in higher education, we are not doing as well as one might expect – in fact, …over the past decade, America has suffered a nearly 30% decline in international student market share.”   (4% of US higher education enrollment consists of international students while that figure is 15% for the UK and 20% for Australia, respectively.) 

The US has yet to formulate a comprehensive international education policy that would signal that all of the relevant cabinet-level departments (State, Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Justice) are on the same page.  What it currently has are departments that sometimes work in cooperation and are often at odds, or even at loggerheads, with each other.  A case in point is the issue of international agency-based student recruitment.  EducationUSA, which is part of State, rejects the use of agents in any shape or form, while Foreign Commercial Service offices worldwide actively promote education as a major service sector export, including agent matchmaking through its Gold Key Service. 

Finally, I touched on international agency-based recruitment as a controversial issue in the US yet a long accepted practice in the UK, Australia and other countries, and the need for a multi-pronged recruitment strategy in competitive markets such as Vietnam (e.g., helicopter marketing, armchair activities, long-term, in-country representation, etc.).   

MAA

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Chúc mừng ngày phụ nữ Việt Nam!/Happy Vietnamese Women’s Day!

20/10/2011

P.S.:  Every day should be Women’s Day!

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Trải nghiệm ở Trung học nội trú: Sự chuẩn bị cho Đại học và cho cả cuộc đời

16/10/2011

Nguyen Xuan Toan

Bài viết này được viết bởi Nguyễn Xuân Toàn, một học sinh ở Hà Nội, đã tốt nghiệp trường trung học phổ thông Hà Nội Amsterdam năm 2008 và trường nội trú Phillips Academy Andover năm 2010. Hiện nay cậu đang là sinh viên của trường đại học Amherst.

Tôi vẫn thường nói đùa rằng trường nội trú về cơ bản chính là trường đại học cho học sinh trung học. Thực sự đúng là như vậy, tới một chừng mực nào đó. Những trải nghiệm ở trường nội trú cũng tựa như ở trường đại học, nhưng cơ cấu và kỷ luật hơn.Chính cơ cấu và kỷ luật ấy, cùng với yêu cầu học tập nghiêm ngặt, đã giúp tôi chuẩn bị tốt hơn cho những năm học đại học tại Mỹ.

Trường nội trú đã dạy cho tôi những thói quen cần có để đạt được thành công trong học tập, ví dụ như ngủ đều đặn và đủ giấc cũng như thường xuyên tập thể dục. Nếu không có những thói quen như thế (theo một nghĩa nào đó thì là do tôi bị kỷ luật của trường bắt buộc), thì có lẽ tôi đã có một trải nghiệm không mấy hay ho ở trường đại học. Tôi sẽ thức cả đêm, tăng cân và quản lý yếu kém những cam kết của tôi với trường đại học. Tóm lại, những năm tháng ở Andover đã dạy cho tôi cách sống ở đại học: cách quản lý thời gian hiệu quả và cách cân bằng cuộc sống trong môi trường học tập.

Quãng thời gian ở trường nội trú còn trang bị cho tôi những kỹ năng cơ bản để học tập ở bậc đại học Mỹ mà các trường trung học phổ thông ở Việt Nam không thể đem lại, như cách viết luận mạch lạc, cách tiến hành một bài nghiên cứu, rồi tư duy lập luận phê phán. Trường nội trú đã giúp khả năng viết luận của tôi tiến bộ vô cùng, đặc biệt các giáo viên luôn kiểm tra bài viết và chỉ ra những chỗ sai và dài dòng trong cách hành văn của tôi mà tôi không bao giờ nhận ra được nếu chỉ đơn thuần học Tiếng Anh như một ngoại ngữ ở Việt Nam.

Và còn hơn cả một sự tập dượt cho trường đại học, trường nội trú cho tôi những trải nghiệm của cả một đời người: Tôi được gặp gỡ với những diễn giả, giáo viên, và cả những người bạn rất vui tính. Thật tuyệt vời khi…

    • Được học văn học Mỹ và văn học thời kỳ hậu thực dân ở Châu Phi từ một thày giáo có thể đọc Truyện Kiều bằng Tiếng Việt và quen biết các học giả nổi tiếng người Việt.
    • Thảo luận về truyền thống của người Hồi giáo, đôi khi bằng chính Tiếng Việt, với một giáo viên người Pháp theo đạo Hồi (một người biết khá nhiều Tiếng Việt)
    • Chơi trong dàn nhạc của học sinh với những người bạn vừa có thể chơi cello, vừa có thể chơi những bản dương cầm rất phức tạp mà không cần tập trước.
    • Học hỏi từ một người bạn vô địch đồng thời giải Olympic Toán Quốc Tế lẫn Olympic Tin học Quốc tế.
    • Thử nói vài thứ tiếng với một người bạn biết 6 ngôn ngữ. (Tôi cũng có những trải nghiệm gần giống như vậy ở trường đại học, nhưng việc tập trung nhiều con người thú vị như vậy ở trường cấp 3 quả thật là một điều đáng ngạc nhiên.)

    Thêm vào nữa, các sinh viên người Việt cũng gặp nhiều khó khăn trong việc xin thư giới thiệu của các giáo viên Việt Nam để nộp đơn vào các trường đại học Hoa Kỳ – viết thư giới thiệu vẫn chưa thể trở thành một nét văn hóa ở Việt Nam. Nhưng ở trường nội trú các giáo viên thường xuyên viết thư giới thiệu và thậm chí còn viết những nhận xét rất thẳng thắn và sâu sắc cho tôi. Trường trung học nội trú còn có những nhân viên tư vấn tuyển sinh rất chuyên nghiệp, những người đã cho tôi những lời khuyên hữu ích.

NOTE:  This is a Vietnamese version of the last post.  In the near future I will create a Vietnamese language blog for issues of interest to Vietnamese readers.

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The Boarding School Experience: Preparation for College and for Life

14/10/2011

Nguyen Xuan Toan

 This guest post was written by Nguyen Xuan Toan, a student from Hanoi who attended Hanoi-Amsterdam High School and graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 2010.  He is currently  a student at Amherst College. 

——————–

I often joke that boarding schools are basically colleges for high school students. In some ways they are. The boarding school experience resembles the college experience, albeit with much more discipline and structure. That discipline and structure, along with the rigorous boarding school academic experience, have prepared me much better for college in the US.

 Boarding school taught me the habits necessary for a good college experience, such as having a regular and adequate sleep pattern and exercising regularly. Without those habits (forced upon me by boarding school discipline in some sense), I would have a much worse college experience.  I would have pulled all-nighters, gained weight and mismanaged my commitments. In short, the years at Andover taught me to live the college experience:  to manage time well and to balance my life well in an academic environment.

The boarding school experience also taught me the basic skills necessary at American colleges that Vietnamese high schools could not offer, such as writing coherently, conducting independent research, and critical reasoning inquiry. Boarding school improved the quality of my writing immensely, especially with teachers going over my papers and pointing out the errors and redundancies that I would never recognize if I were simply learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam. 

And more than a rehearsal for college, boarding school gave me the experience of a lifetime: I got to meet cool speakers, teachers, and friends. It’s awesome to…

  • learn American literature and post-colonial Africa literature from a teacher who can read Truyện Kiều in Vietnamese and know famous Vietnamese scholars personally.
  • discuss Islamic tradition, sometimes in Vietnamese, with a French Muslim (who knows quite a bit of Vietnamese).
  • play in the same student-run student-conducted orchestra with people who play the cello yet can play incredibly complicated piano pieces by sight-reading.
  • learn from a friend who wins both the International Mathematics Olympiad and the International Informatics Olympiad.
  • try speaking several languages to a friend who know 6 languages. (I have more or less the same experience at college, though at high school such a concentration of cool people is astonishing.)

Also, Vietnamese students often have a hard time getting recommendations from Vietnamese teachers and counselors to apply for US colleges — writing a recommendation has yet to become a part of the Vietnamese education culture. But at boarding schools teachers write recommendations regularly and wrote frank and insightful recommendations for me. Boarding school also provided professional admission counselors, who advised me well.

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StudyUSA Community College Fairs: Making Connections

13/10/2011

Group Photo Taken After Danang Fair (6.10.11)

Fair week is over.  The fall 2011 StudyUSA Community College Fair series started on a Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and ended on a Saturday in Hanoi with stops and high school visits in between in Nha Trang (first time ever) and Danang.  These US community college-only fairs are unique in Vietnam, a wise choice for CCs that are serious about Vietnam and don’t want to get lost in the mix at the mega-US higher education fairs.  Participating schools can be sure that most of the people coming are interested in a CC experience. 

Students at Tran Phu High School in Danang Listening to a Presentation About US Community Colleges

It all seems so quaint yet so meaningful rewarding and effective.  You create the conditions to bring people together – US colleagues from 12 states and students/parents from all three regions of Vietnam – so that they can talk about the advantages and benefits of studying at one of America’s most popular institutions of higher education, a community college (CC).  

Students Speaking with Stephanie Doyle (Everett Community College, WA)

While there are many reasons why a student/parent chooses a particular school, including location, cost, transfer opportunities, safety and scholarships, one key reason is the connection they make with the CC reps sitting behind the table, the face of their institution.  Are they friendly, open, caring and patient?  Are they service-oriented?  Do they make young people and their parents feel welcome and truly enjoy interacting with them?  Do they “connect” with the people who come to them with questions and a sincere desire to learn more?  The extent to which the answer to these questions is “yes” is the extent to which these face-to-face meetings could be deal makers.   

Fairs as a example of “helicopter marketing,” in combination with other long-term types of marketing and promotion, remain an important means of student recruitment.  Once students jump over the various bureaucratic and financial hurdles and finally arrive at their school of choice, however, the challenge is for the institution to deliver on the promises made during and after the fair.

Note:  Vietnam ranks 2nd in international enrollment at these two-year schools, a gateway for four-year colleges and universities for most Vietnamese and other international students. 

Masaru Kibukawa (Cascadia Community College, WA) Speaking to Students

Disclosure:  This fair series was organized by Capstone Vietnam, of which I’m managing director. 

MAA

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Fall 2011 Update: U.S. Businesses Are Discovering the “V” in CIVETS

12/10/2011

Courtesy of Vietnomics

This fall 2011 update is from Vietnomics, a global sourcing consultancy that links US and Vietnamese investors and companies.  Thanks, Jeff!

 Summary

 The Vietnam opportunity in the 3rd quarter attracted more attention from global investors, who now have a catchy acronym to go with their enthusiasm:  CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa) is replacing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as the promising new frontier.  Vietnam belongs in this emerging group because of its demographics (young, ambitious, entrepreneurial); its political and social stability; its sustained pace of growth; and its emergence as a manufacturing hub.  For early adopters with long-term objectives, these strengths trump concerns about high inflation for 2011 and the related issues of currency instability, slower growth, and imbalances in trade and government spending

3rd Quarter Developments in Vietnam

Underlining the Vietnam opportunity are reports that surfaced in summer and early fall.  Among them:

Commodities Exports.  Vietnam continues growing as a dominant global trader in commodities – especially coffee, rice, and cashews.  Nestle plans a $270 million coffee factory near Ho Chi Minh City, and intends to purchase 30,000 tons of coffee annually from 16,000 farmers.  This fall, Vietnamese farmers are expected to harvest a record 1.3 million tons of coffee (worth $3 billion) –  enough to lower prices of Robusta beans on the global market.  Also, Vietnam is positioned to overtake Thailand as top exporter of rice, the staple that feeds almost half the world.  Vietnam may exceed 8 million tons of rice exports in the coming year.

Green Technology Leadership.  Vietnam is positioning itself as a destination for clean energy and biotechnology investors.  Among them:  US-based First Solar investing $1 billion, IC Energy $390 million, and German Roth & Rau $14 million in solar factories;  GE and Germany’s EAB investing in wind power; Germany committing one-third of its official development assistance in Vietnam’s energy sector; Indochina Capital planning to mobilize $200 million for wind, solar, and energy projects; and Dragon Capital committing $45 million to recycling and clean water.  Also, Vietnam committed $17 million to build the country’s largest biotech complex to focus on agribusiness R&D — such as high-quality mushrooms and genetically-modified plants.

Architectural Achievements.  Vietnam is experiencing a spectacular physical remake.  CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s largest property developer, is completing its first project in Vietnam:  The Vista, 750 luxury apartments in five 28-story towers across the Saigon River from Ho Chi Minh City’s downtown.  And the American Institute of Architects highlighted Vietnam as a new frontier — showing projects of more than 20 firms, including:  Chicago-based Carlos Zapata Studio’s 68-story Bitexco Financial Tower, and the 450-room waterfront Marriott under construction in Hanoi.  Planned projects include cities within cities and conversion of Phu Quoc Island into Vietnam’s Macau.

Online Commerce Growth.   E-commerce is projected to reach $6 billion over the next three years as 30 million internet users get comfortable with online purchasing.  And Vietnam’s trade ministry is planning an import-export website starting next year to support the country’s textile, seafood, agriculture, wood, rubber, footwear, leather, steel, fertilizer, plastic and handicrafts industries that together have 9,300 websites that produce $2 billion in revenue annually.

Overseas investment.  Another sign of Vietnam’s emergence on the global stage is its investment abroad.  Vietnamese businesses registered to invest $25 billion in 600 foreign projects this year – primarily mining, energy, water, and agriculture – mostly in Laos, Cambodia, Venezuela and Russia.

3 Important Issues Affecting Long-Term Prospects for Business in Vietnam

Social capital.  Investors need to watch the interplay of workforce, wages, and inflation.  Family planning underlies Vietnam’s remarkable progress as fewer births meant more resources for education and investment; but now Vietnamese mothers are giving birth to 11% more boys than girls – a trend likely to increase social instability.  Meanwhile, as Vietnam faces one of the world’s highest inflation rates, the minimum wage rises 29% in Saigon.  That could lead to higher unemployment.

The environment.  Vietnam wants to balance environmental sustainability with economic growth.  Currently at issue: (1) contracts with Chinese companies to mine a million tons of Vietnamese bauxite annually; (2) 12 hydroelectric projects along the Mekong River, home to 60 million people in six countries.  A report says the projects would supply less than 5% of Vietnam’s electricity and would eliminate $1 billion in revenue for fishing families and $2 billion in food production and aquaculture.

Trust.  As a newcomer to the World Trade Organization, Vietnam has yet to demonstrate that it can effectively control corruption, and honor intellectual property rights, brands and patents.  Adidas, Gucci, Honda, Microsoft, Louis Vuitton, and Kimberly Clark are among companies trying to protect their brands from counterfeiters.  Violators face minimal fines and get back in business quickly, so the government needs stronger penalties and vigilance.

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Key Data

First 3 quarters 2011 vs. first 3 quarters 2010 from government monthly statistical reports

  • Gross Domestic Product – $83.0 billion, up 5.8%
  • Consumer Prices – up 22%
  • Exports –$70 billion, up 34%
  • Imports — $77 billion, up 27%
  • International Visitors – 4,312,100, up 15.5%
  • Foreign Investment –$9.9 billion, down 28%
  • Internet Subscribers – 4.1 million, up 18%
  • Stocks — Closed at 437.47, down 3.7%

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Jeff Browne, President – Email:  jbrowneATvietnomics.com - Website: www.vietnomics.com

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A Hole in the Dike?

10/10/2011

Much to my chagrin, I noticed that IIE permitted Jose Maria Vargas University, a nationally accredited (NA) school based in Florida, to join its US higher education fairs in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).  This in spite of the fact that IIE guidelines state that “Only regionally accredited (RA) two-year, four-year and graduate U.S. institutions may be represented at the IIE Fairs.”   

I’m not sure whether it’s an oversight on IIE’s part or a change in policy. (I hope it’s the former.)  I do know that the Vietnamese students and parents who attend these fairs trust IIE and believe all of the participating schools to be quality institutions.   

I also know that other NA schools would think they had died and gone to heaven if they could have greater access to the market here and elsewhere, especially with the credibility, honor by association and prestige of being side-by-side with their distant RA (gold standard) cousins – mutts among purebreds, so to speak.  Having spoken to some representatives of RA schools that joined this particular fair series, I know that the feeling is not mutual.

As anyone who knows US higher education is well aware, there is absolutely no comparison between regional and national accreditation in terms of standards and quality.  My favorite example is another nationally accredited school in Santa Rosa, CA called the Bergin University of Canine Studies, where you can earn a degree in Cynology (i.e., the study of dogs).  No, I’m not kidding.  In fact, JMVU and Bergin are accredited by the same organization, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS.). 

As I mentioned in a July 2010 blog post entitled Nationally Accredited U.S. Institutions with a Vietnam Connection, ACICS also accredits such schools as the Golden State College of Court Reporting & Captioning, Golf Academy of America, ITT Technical Institute, Kaplan Career Institute, and the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. 

Just a quick glance at JMVU’s website leaves one with the distinct impression that it’s just another money-making machine masquerading as an institution of higher education. 

I sincerely hope that Jose Maria Vargas University’s participation in the IIE US higher education fairs was an aberration and not a nasty precedent for future fairs.  Vietnam does not need any more low and no standard US schools with dollar signs in their eyes, flowery rhetoric and professed good intentions notwithstanding.

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