Latitudes

“The sheer magnitude of people was difficult to grasp”

Ahead of last week’s NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference, I listed several trends I’d be watching, among them: What impact could turnover and new hires have on international education?

Over the course of the four-day meeting, I met many newcomers among the 8,500 attendees. Talking with these educators, I heard about their personal and career ambitions, expectations for their work, and what drew them to the field.

Rather than try to summarize these conversations, I thought I’d let you hear directly from one newcomer I met. Kaylee Henderson is a program coordinator at the Fund for Education Abroad, which provides scholarships and support so more underrepresented students can have an international-education experience. A first-generation student, Henderson studied abroad in China as an undergraduate at Kalamazoo College. Her responses have been lightly edited for space.

As a NAFSA first-timer, what’s your first impression of the conference?

I felt pretty intimidated and was unsure what to expect over all. The sheer magnitude of people in attendance was difficult to grasp. But for me, that underscored the impact of active participation in the conference, whether through presenting, exhibiting, or volunteering. We all dedicate ourselves to unique niches and causes within the field, and at a conference of this scale, it’s quite profound thinking about the number of people you can reach and influence. Similarly, being in a community with like-minded individuals was really uplifting. For instance, I had the privilege of attending the sustainability special-interest group meeting, which was really inspiring. The energy, excitement, and vibrancy of the conference were contagious.

Was there anything you hoped to get out of the conference that you didn’t?

I wish I had more time to attend sessions and engage in discussions with colleagues in smaller, more-focused groups. Although I got to make valuable connections, I felt that the party-like atmosphere at many receptions was rather daunting for me. Not only am I quite introverted, but as a young/early professional with fewer connections in the field, it made striking up conversations difficult. In retrospect, I wish there were greater opportunities where colleagues could gather in more intimate settings to discuss challenges, share solutions, and build deeper connections.

What drew you to working in international education in the first place?

In high school, my interest in education led me to consider a career in the field. However, I knew I wanted to explore avenues beyond the traditional classroom setting. It was my initial meeting with Tony Nelson, my study-abroad adviser at Kalamazoo College, that opened my eyes to the world of international education. Our conversations went beyond discussing my study-abroad plans; we delved into his own career trajectory, which ignited my interest in pursuing a career in international education. He has become my mentor, and his guidance has played a pivotal role in my journey in the field of international education. Beginning my career in international education during the pandemic was a challenge, but Tony’s mentorship and support along the way has been tremendously impactful on both my personal and professional growth.

There was a lot of talk at NAFSA about mentorship. What sort of guidance or support would be most useful to you and your professional development?

In such a dynamic field, there are a wide array of opportunities and specializations. Having connections to colleagues who can provide insight on how to carve out a particular niche and explore specialized areas (even within my role at my current organization), would be extremely valuable to me.

I’ll share some of my NAFSA takeaways in the coming weeks — plus, thanks to presentations, discussions, and one-on-one meetings, I have a (literal) notebook full of ideas for future reporting. What were your impressions of the conference? Anything surprise you? Excite you? Worry you? How will you apply what you learned into your own work? Drop me a note at karin.fischer@chronicle.com.

Thanks to everyone who came out to sessions and my pavilion talk during the conference. It was great to meet so many readers.

English-language enrollments on the rise

Enrollments in programs offering English-language instruction were hit particularly hard during the pandemic and have been slower to bounce back, but student numbers may be finally approaching pre-Covid levels, according to a new census.

International enrollments in intensive-English programs in the United States rose by 63 percent in 2022, to just over 64,000, according to figures released by the Institute of International Education. While that’s still lower than in 2019, when more than 75,000 students were studying English, it’s an improvement over the pandemic, when enrollments fell below 40,000.

In an email, Cheryl Delk-Le Good, executive director of EnglishUSA, a membership organization for English-language programs, wrote that the sector is “focusing on the increases.”

The Covid-era declines were difficult for such programs, which are typically self-supporting, to absorb, and many retrenched or even closed during the pandemic. They also worked to adapt their curricula to virtual instruction: In the summer of 2020, nine in 10 programs were taught online. Today, a similar share said they had returned to fully or primarily in-person learning.

Here are a few other takeaways:

Intensive-English programs remain small. In a separate flash survey of EnglishUSA’s members, conducted early this spring, the largest share, 40 percent, reported having fewer than 25 students enrolled. Another quarter enrolled between 26 and 50 students. Most respondents were at college-based programs, Delk-Le Good said.

Anecdotally, Delk-Le Good said some programs had higher enrollments for sessions offered later in the spring. (English-language programs typically run on shorter cycles and have more-frequent starts than academic semesters.)

The countries from which these programs are drawing students may be shifting. Sixteen percent of students enrolled in 2022 were from Japan, far and away the largest group of students, the Institute of International Education’s data shows. France accounted for 8 percent of English-language students and China for 7 percent. Brazil and South Korea rounded out the top five.

In 2019, more than one in five students were from China, and 14 percent were from Saudi Arabia. But the number of students coming from these two countries to study English had already begun to decline before the pandemic — for one, Saudi Arabia had shifted its government scholarship program to supporting graduate degrees, with higher requirements for English proficiency. Could Covid have accelerated the shake-up in the mix of students enrolled in intensive English?

Even if English-language programs regain the ground lost during Covid, they will still be way below peak enrollments just a few years earlier. Some 133,300 were studying English in 2015, more than double current numbers. At that time, English programs accounted for 4 percent of all international students in the United States; now they represent just 1 percent.

Yes, the pandemic was existential for these programs, but the enrollment headwinds had been blowing for some time. And they may have bigger implications for American colleges: Previously, about half of all English-language students chose to go on to full-degree programs. In the latest survey, just 27 percent said they planned to continue their studies in the United States. Students in English programs affiliated with a college were far more likely to say they planned to pursue further education than those in stand-alone or private programs.

Commerce Department says international education is a “priority” export

The U.S. Department of Commerce will prioritize international education in its national export strategy, part of a stepped-up effort to promote the United States as a study destination.

Kendee Yamaguchi, a deputy assistant secretary at the International Trade Administration, made the announcement during last week’s NAFSA conference, saying that for the first time international education would be among the “priority” industry sectors included in the export strategy. ICEF Monitor first reported the change.

As part of its effort, the department will work to support American colleges’ efforts to recruit international students, including conducting overseas market analyses and connecting colleges and educational consortia with foreign groups interested in studying in the United States.

In 2022, economic activity related to the education of international students ranked ninth among all American service exports, generating $38.8 billion.

Around the globe

The White House will hold a listening session on Monday, June 12, to get feedback on federal research-security policy guidance.

More than two dozen Republican House members have signed onto a legal brief to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case challenging the legality of Optional Practical Training, the postgraduate work program for international students. A group of senators are also asking the court to review the student-worker program.

North Korean hackers have been posing as academics and journalists as part of a phishing campaign that has made colleges, think tanks, and the media a target, according to a federal cybersecurity advisory.

Undocumented students in Minnesota will be eligible for a new statewide program that covers college tuition for students from families making less than $80,000 a year.

The chairman of a select U.S. House committee on China warns that Alfred University, in New York, poses a potential national-security risk as it continues to host a Confucius Institute, a Chinese-funded language and culture center, while receiving a $13.5-million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for sensitive hypersonic weapons research.

The U.S. ambassador to China said that sending more Americans to study in China was critical to the future of Chinese-American relations.

In a commentary, a fellow with an anti-immigration group compared Chinese students at American colleges to the Chinese-government spy balloon found in American airspace earlier this year, and said Chinese students should be barred from studying in the United States.

The United States risks losing its scientific edge if it freezes out Chinese scientists and ends academic collaboration with universities there, a China expert at Harvard University warns.

President Xi Jinping said China needs to more quickly develop world-class universities and strengthen its scientific research in order to become a global innovation power.

Chinese universities are sharply raising tuition, some for the first time in two decades, because of declines in national and local spending on higher education.

A former graduate student in Japan accused her professor of sexual harassment, but his wife won legal damages.

Academics in Turkey are alarmed by the re-election of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who previously restricted academic freedom and university autonomy.

International enrollments have increased in Britain since the pandemic, but that growth is unlikely to be sustainable, a new report said.

A Scottish university plans to close its “white elephant” New York City campus after it struggled to attract students.

Immigration officials in Canada are investigating reports of fraudulent college-acceptance letters allegedly used in student-visa applications, the country’s immigration minister said in a post on Twitter.

Efforts to “decolonize” the curriculum while slashing foreign-language programs are contradictory, Eric Adler, a professor of classics at the University of Maryland at College Park, writes in The Review.

And finally …

A graduate student in Iran may have made an important scientific discovery not long before she took her own life. This fascinating and disturbing piece takes readers inside Iran’s high-stress, highly competitive academic culture, which can be opaque to outsiders. There, mental health is “often ignored, denied, and deeply freighted with stigma.”

Thanks for reading. I always welcome your feedback and ideas for future reporting, so write to me at karin.fischer@chronicle.com. You can also connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn. If you like this newsletter, please share it with colleagues and friends. They can sign up here.