ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

IIE.Interactive:
Open Doors and the National Interest -- A Letter from Allan E. Goodman

From Allan Goodman, IIE President:

On behalf of all of us at the Institute of International Education, I'd like to wish you a safe, happy and successful New Year.

As we look back at the frenzied national debate and press coverage on international education and student visas that has followed the tragic events of September 11, one thing stands out to me. Few people outside of our profession are aware of the diligent work that is being done - and has been done year-round, even before recent events - by the nationwide network of foreign student advisors to ensure that the 547,867 foreign students in this country are in legal visa status and engaged in the studies and research they came here to pursue.

As I see the calls to restrict student visas and the debate over INS policy and whether the new SEVIS system will succeed, I am constantly reminded of the tremendous value of the work that professionals on campus are doing. I feel confident that we will be able to develop a solution that works for all, balancing national security interests with the need to keep our minds and educational doors open.

I'd like to invite you to read my current statement on student visa policy, entitled "Open Doors and the National Interest", and to participate in the ongoing discussion of this issue on IIENetwork's Student Visa Policy Forum IIENetwork's Student Visa Policy Forum. We at IIE would like to continue to be a resource for the educational community and the government, and to help ensure the integrity of the student visa system that we helped to develop in 1921. We hope this Forum is useful to you, and we welcome your suggestions.

I would also like to share with you two extraordinary Op-Eds that appeared in this Sunday's Washington Post Outlook pages under the heading: Open Doors, Opened Minds." They say, more eloquently than I can, how great a difference international education can make. They are a tremendous tribute to the value of the Fulbright program and international educational exchange. (Washington Post Outlook pages no longer available due to age)

9/11 ended what Henry Kissinger called in his last book the prevailing view that we were in an age of risk-less global relations. It is not clear what is going to replace that prospect. But there is no doubt in my mind that international education -- and what you are doing to promote it on your campus -- is much more central both to higher education and to foreign relations.