The United States’ share of international students has declined from 30% to 15% currently, while other countries such as Canada, the UK, and Australia have emerged as new and competitive options for international students. This shift underscores the evolving global landscape of higher education mobility.
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is one of 11 organizations that have established the “US for Success Coalition,” a consortium that primarily advocates for policy changes that will help the United States maintain its appeal as a destination for international students.
The US for Success Coalition includes the Association of International Enrollment Management (AIRC), Alliance for International Exchange, ETS, FWD.us, Institute of International Education (IIE), Niskanen Center, NAFSA, Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Shorelight, Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), and World Education Services (WES).
The US’ share of international students has declined from 30 percent to 15 percent, while other countries such as Canada, the UK, and Australia have emerged as new and competitive options for international students. This shift underscores the evolving global landscape of higher education mobility.
ETS Global Workskills Senior Vice President Rohit Sharma mentioned that one of the crucial policy changes they are advocating for pertains to post-study work opportunities.
Currently, the US offers approximately one year of Optional Practical Training (OPT), but they aim to extend this duration to provide Indian students with more opportunities for post-study work in the country.
The OPT program’s premise is to enable students to gain practical experience in their field of study. For students in STEM fields, this work authorization can be extended for an additional 24 months, a feature that has sparked controversy and litigation.
The US Supreme Court’s recent decision not to hear the challenge against the OPT program marks a significant moment in the long-standing debate over immigration and employment in the United States.
This program, which offers temporary work authorization to international students holding an F-1 student visa, has been a focal point of contention, particularly its STEM extension.
The US has also expanded the list of eligible degrees for the post-graduate STEM OPT program.
In a notice, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have introduced changes by including eight new fields of study in the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List.
The new degrees that have been added to the STEM list are landscape architecture, institutional research, mechatronics, robotics, and automation engineering technology or technician, composite materials technology or technician, linguistics and computer science, developmental and adolescent psychology, geospatial intelligence, and demography and population studies.
