The presidents of Arizona's three state universities said they were concerned about the decline in international student attendance at a briefing yesterday in the Student Union Memorial Center.
Statistics have shown that the number of foreign students in Arizona has decreased by 1.8 percent since last year.
"We have historically had a good number of students from the Middle East and we've had a good relationship with many Middle Eastern countries. That relationship is now jeopardized," said UA President Peter Likins. "I'm used to celebrating International Week as a triumph of higher education."
The annual "Open Doors" study by the Institute of International Education has found that nationwide, the number of foreign students increased by just 0.6 percent in 2002-03.
By comparison, foreign enrollment increased by 6.4 in each of the two previous academic years.
The IIE study cites several reasons for this decline, including student and family concerns about safety, difficulties associated with the processing of student visas and a weakened world economy.
Likins said that as time passes the U.S. will once again be more accommodating for international students but adds that contemporary American attitudes toward foreign visitors need to change.
"As we settle down and as the fear diminishes over time, I think it will streamline the way we let people into this country. But we also need to tone down the rhetoric we direct at the rest of the world. I think they see us in a negative light," Likins said.
Foreign students began to experience delays in obtaining student visas in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as the federal government responded to demands for tighter domestic security. One of the Sept. 11 hijackers held a student visa.
According to the report, universities in countries such as Great Britain, Germany and Australia have benefited the most from tighter U.S. immigration policies because they have absorbed those students who are no longer allowed to enter the U.S.
Likins fears that universities outside the U.S. might prove more accommodating to talented international students and faculty members that might have otherwise come to the UA.
"We need to get members of Congress to understand that without an open society we would not have the faculty leadership that we have," Likins said. "Increasing numbers of students going to schools in Europe and Australia show that these universities have become very competitive."
Northern Arizona University president John Haeger said that he believes international students are vital to the exchange of knowledge across the world.
"Although Arizona universities see the fighting of Western forest fires as a unique specialization, this is also a problem in Eastern Europe and South America," Haeger said. "In Europe, they understand how international education adds to international development."
The countries sending the most foreign students to Arizona are India, Mexico, China, South Korea and Japan. International students make up 8 percent of the UA student body, which puts the UA eighth among U.S. universities.
Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have shown the sharpest drop in students enrolling at U.S. universities. Saudi Arabia is down 29 percent, followed by Pakistan and the UAE at 28 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
Also discussed at the briefing was study abroad by U.S. students and the fact that the U.S. receives about twice as many international students as it sends to foreign countries.
IIE President Allen Goodman urged the presidents of the three state universities in Arizona to lend their support to the proposed Lincoln Fellowships that would increase the number of students studying abroad to 500,000. That number would match the
half-million international students at U.S. universities.
If Congress approves the $3.5 billion program, each fellow would study abroad for a summer or a semester and would receive a $7,000 stipend.
The fellowships are named after President Lincoln. The start of the program would coincide with the bicentennial of his birthday.
"I have never heard a student who has studied overseas that has not said the experience has been transforming," said Haeger. "If I could, I would make study abroad an undergraduate requirement."
Yet Goodman believes that study abroad programs should be complemented with more comprehensive language programs at U.S. universities.
"When most of our study abroad students go to Ireland, England, Australia, Scotland and Wales, it's clear we have a language problem," Goodman said. "Study abroad is not a substitute for an international education here at home."