International Student Landscape Shifting

The climate for international visitors to the U.S. continues to change, with implications for education and ministry.

Figures released by the Council of Graduate Schools, reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education in early September, found the number of international students granted admission to U.S. graduate schools dropped by 18 percent from 2003 to 2004.

InterVarsity’s Director of International Student Ministries Lisa Espineli-Chinn told Mission Network News that post 9/11 government policies and procedures are taking their toll. “People who have even been accepted couldn’t get out of (their) country because of additional restrictions or requirements that the government has imposed on those who are coming in as international students,” she said.

Nonetheless, Lisa is excited about the many opportunities for international student ministry that remain. “When we think of 3,300 students that we were able to reach over the last year,” she says, “that’s a drop in the bucket. So, the field is still quite large and there’s a lot there to do.” More on the story at Mission Network News. Related story on implications for U.S. businesses at BusinessWeek.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship began working with international students in the mid-1940’s, shortly after the organization was founded in the U.S. Students who come to the U.S. to study often return home to become the leaders in their country.