A new survey indicates the number of foreign graduate students enrolling for the first time at American universities is down 6 percent this year -- the third straight decline after a decade of growth. Educators worry the trend is eroding America's position as the world's leader in higher education.
But the results of the survey, of 122 member institutions by the Council of Graduate Schools, are still alarming to educators. American universities are highly dependent on foreign students for teaching and research help, particularly in the sciences and in engineering, a field in which foreigners comprise 50 percent of graduate enrollment.
How did we allow ourselves to get into a situation where if foreign students do not arrive at our graduate schools in sufficient numbers, these institutions can't function properly ("alarming" is the word used in the article)? Surely, policies should be enacted to ensure that we have sufficient home-grown talent to fill these slots?
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