Fewer international graduate students are applying at UC Davis and other American schools, in part because of national security policies that make these students feel unwelcome, UC Davis leaders say.

For fall 2004, 3,381 international graduate applications have been submitted to UC Davis -- 742 (18 percent) fewer than had been submitted for last year, according to Charles Duffy, assistant dean for policy and information services in Graduate Studies.

A recent survey of 113 universities by the Council of Graduate Schools found that nationwide more than 90 percent of graduate schools report foreign applications for this fall have declined.

The issue is how to keep scholarly pursuits flowing globally while ensuring the protection of the American people from terrorists. Universities acknowledge that the importance of foreign students is not obvious to the public, which has security concerns after one of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the country on a student visa.

Bill Lacy, vice provost for university outreach and international programs at UC Davis, says that attracting foreign students is one of America's most effective forms of diplomacy.

After all, he points out, America is educating people who will be in influential positions in science, industry and government around the world. For the United States, this also serves a practical benefit -- keeping the country on the leading edge of knowledge, both academic and private, in the Information Age.

Lacy said that more than 50 federal regulatory changes intended to strengthen U.S. security have actually hurt higher education, especially at the graduate-study level. The unintended consequence, he said, could be an ultimate reduction in national security if U.S. leadership in higher education and research is diminished.

"Universities are especially affected by an imbalance as they pursue and disseminate knowledge and educate future leaders," he said. "Freedom of inquiry, communication and international collaboration are core to their mission."

Lacy quoted Charles Vest, president of MIT, who said last year that, "The openness of our campus to students, scholars and faculty from all over the world is one of our greatest strengths, and is at the heart of the phenomenal success of the American research university."

Foreign scholars and students have been delayed or denied access to the United States often because of visa issues, Lacy said. The result: students and scholars decide to go elsewhere for their education, research collaboration and international conferences, Lacy said.

He notes that undergraduate international applications at UC Davis have declined 36 percent during the past two years, while California residents' applications to UC Davis have increased by 9 percent. In addition, Lacy said, international graduate student applications to U.S. research universities are down by at least 25 percent, and applications from China have dropped 76 percent.

Lacy recommends the following changes at the federal government level:

• Official reaffirmation of classification (i.e., confidential, secret, top secret) as the only appropriate means to control access to federally-sponsored university research;
• Enhanced support of government programs to foster international educational exchanges (e.g., Fulbright and Humphrey Scholars); and
• Streamlining of the U.S. visa screening processes that currently involve four separate review processes with no information available about the status of these reviews.

At UC Davis, Lacy said, the offices for Research, Graduate Studies, Undergraduate Admissions, Services for International Students and Scholars and academic departments are making efforts to be "more pro-active in the international science and education arena."

In April, representatives from nine Southern California colleges and universities, including UC San Diego, voiced their concerns about the new visa database in a closed-door meeting in San Diego with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Colleges cannot enroll international students on visas unless they participate in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS.

The SEVIS database contains names, nationalities, addresses, ages, courses of study and the academic standing of all students attending college on a visa. The list is updated each semester.

But the visa logistics are problematic.

In early May, the New York Times reported that 25 leading scientific, engineering and educational organizations, claiming to represent 95 percent of the American research community, sent a statement to the Bush administration and Congress urging prompt action to ease visa problems for foreign students.

Heightened security reviews have created a "massive backlog" of applications by foreign scholars, the Times wrote in an editorial, and may "cause long-term harm to America's universities and high-tech industries."

A global classroom

The international community at UC Davis numbers about 3,100, counting foreign students and scholars, according to the campus's Services for International Students and Scholars.

Many departments at UC Davis rely on foreign students to teach classes and staff research labs. In fall 2003, international students represented about 32 percent of all graduate research appointments and 23 percent of all teaching assistant appointments.

And so it's a problem when those numbers start falling. Universities depend on qualified graduate-level instructors and research assistants to fulfill the academic mission.

Foreign students often pay higher tuition and soak up little financial aid because they must demonstrate financial self-reliance to get a visa. More than 75 percent of their funding comes from outside the country, according to the Institute of International Education, which estimates foreign students contribute $12 billion to the U.S. economy.

Wesley Young, director of Services for International Students and Scholars, said the causes for the decline in foreign applications at UC Davis are numerous. His unit assists international students and scholars with visa and immigration issues while they are at UC Davis.

"Many factors exist to consider," said Young, "such as SEVIS, additional security checks, requirement for personal interviews, incentive structures for consular staff to deny visa requests, and horror stories that all students have heard about other international students' bad experiences with all of the above."

Also, he said, other countries are now more actively seeking to attract international students, especially Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.