The Impact of Foreign Graduate Students on Engineering Education in the United States
ELINOR G. BARBER 1 and
ROBERT P. MORGAN 2
1 Director of research for the Institute of International Education, New York, NY 10017.
2 Professor of technology and human affairs, School of Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130.
Surveys of chairpersons and faculty members of engineering departments of U.S. universities were conducted in the fall of 1985 to examine the relation between the high proportion of foreign graduate students and the operation and quality of engineering education in the United States. Information was obtained on admissions criteria and policies, financial aid, and the performance of U.S. and foreign students as teaching and research assistants. Overall, the survey respondents believed that foreign students are an asset and that, without them, training and research would suffer. Language and communications were the problems most frequently mentioned as adversely affecting the performance of foreign students.
