Point: Counterpoint

New Rules in an Old Game

Patterns and Trends in Direct Enrollment

By William Nolting and Bill Hoffa

American campuses have a long history of successfully attracting students from overseas (according to the latest IIE Open Doors survey, over 450,000 foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities last year). It now appears that a large number of foreign universities are beginning to replicate that success. Although no exact figures are available, evidence suggests that direct enrollment in foreign universities is an increasingly popular trend among U.S. students.

U.S. colleges and universities continue to assert strong academic and economic control over what their students do overseas and the conditions under which they live and learn—partly because of American monolingualism and the evolution of English into its current status as the world language.

Nevertheless, direct enrollment in foreign universities by American undergraduates is growing and is likely to increase in the future—although its general acceptance as a way for American students to study abroad remains problematic.

From the U.S perspective, there is a growing awareness both that the world is more than the traditional destinations in Western Europe and that no campus can afford to develop enough programs of its own to match the interests and needs of its entire student body. Students are looking for options which are not too costly, and of course are seeking course work that will count toward U.S. degrees. Beyond this, a growing number of students want to study independently and are finding access to the information about direct enrollment via the internet.

Simultaneously, a number of factors at foreign universities have led them to consider welcoming students from other countries; or expanding the number currently there. These include setting up exchange opportunities for their own students in other countries, internationalizing their own campus, consolidating student services already offered to visiting students into one concerted program, and generating income for the institution via fee-paying students.

Direct enrollment for U.S. undergraduates in foreign institutions encompass a broad number of diverse structural models. In each case, U.S. students enroll individually, without going through U.S. sponsorship of any kind, so they often end up with a transcript from the overseas institution—usually at considerably less cost than if they had enrolled via U.S. sponsorship. Current opportunities include enrollment:

• In an English-speaking university in an English-speaking country (e.g. England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand).

• In any foreign language university which welcomes foreign students who have sufficient language proficiency and academic preparation to take regular courses alongside native students.

• In language-and-culture programs run by universities like the Sorbonne and private institutes like Goethe Institute and Alliance Francaise.

• In foreign university classes arranged exclusively for foreigners (not just Americans) but taught in English, in a country where English is not the native language but is commonly known and spoken. Such programs offer language courses at several levels, plus good support services and transcription. One of the better known and oldest such programs is DIS, www.discopenhagen.org, which is affiliated with the Univ. of Copenhagen. Other examples include institutions in Israel (most universities); Sweden (The Swedish Program, Stockholm); Japan (Waseda, Kansai Gaidai, Nansan, Nagoya); Korea (Yonsei); Egypt (American Univ. in Cairo); and The Netherlands (Univ. of Amsterdam).

• In regular university courses, with native students, but taught in English on demand. These are designed to allow students from all over Europe to enroll with English as their second language.

• In universities with a full curriculum in English, even if English is not a language native to the country. This tends to be in former countries in the British Commonwealth: Africa (Kenya, Ghana), Hong Kong, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Belize, and Jamaica.

Type of Student

The kinds of U.S. students to whom direct enrollment appeals include:

• Students who, for one reason or another, want to study in a country where there is no U.S. sponsored program (Martinique, Pakistan).

• Students who want to pursue their ethnic roots. A good portion of U.S. students who study in Israel fit this category.

• Students who do not want to be associated with other American students.

• Students not on financial aid or whose financial aid does not travel but nevertheless are not willing or able to afford what they consider the surcharges of U.S. organizations which facilitate direct enrollment. Such students have often discovered that some foreign universities charge low or no tuition. They also have often figured out that if they return with good documentation of their academic performance, they usually receive transfer credit directly from their registrar’s office.

• Students who are required to attend a foreign institution as part of their scholarship obligations (Rotary, Fulbright, and Marshall).

• Graduate students who need to gain language proficiency. Since knowing the language is a means to another end—usually carrying out research for their thesis—such students are not seeking credit.

• Masters students seeking an academic specialization not available in the U.S.

Direct Enrollment Numbers

It is too soon to know whether the numbers of U.S. students who decide to enroll directly in a foreign degree-granting institution will rise significantly in the years ahead. However, these are some of the factors which will influence the students’ decisions:

• There are now more programs around the world being offered in English than there ever were.

• Curricular offerings in non-English-speaking countries have multiplied and will continue to grow in areas being sought by U.S. students.

• Transcripting of courses taken and academic performance are becoming more common.

• Foreign universities increasingly offer support services of the sort U.S. students (and parents) require, including help in securing housing, meals, etc.

• Organized marketing efforts by regional or national consortia, often with strong government support, are increasingly sophisticated and adaptive to U.S. requirements. These are aimed at reaching students as well as U.S. institutions.

• The internet allows overseas universities to get their programs directly to U.S. students without costly materials and mailing costs, and also creates opportunities for one-to-one advising and contact between students and overseas personnel.

All the above factors suggest that direct enrollment numbers will rise. Here are some reasons they may not:

• U.S. universities still want to have control over the programs their students undertake for credit including control of academic quality and tuition dollars.

• On both sides there remains a strong preference for institution-to-institution exchanges, especially if these include benefits beyond undergraduate opportunities such as faculty teaching exchanges and cooperative scholarly research.

• Financial aid (federal, state, institutional) may continue to be hard to use in direct enrollment programs.

• Faculty involvement in U.S. study abroad programs is well-established and is a means of internationalizing the campus and curriculum.

• Selling campus-based study abroad programs is embedded in the promotional efforts institutions make to enhance admissions and insure the retention of students and alum loyalty

The efforts by foreign universities to attract U.S. students spring from a variety of motives—most of which will be familiar to American institutions, in part because they were largely invented on our shores. The open question is whether these old rules signal a new game or simply an enlargement of the current contest, with more players on the world’s court.