Speeches and Remarks

"The U.S. is a Great Place to Study"
by Ambassador David C. Mulford

May 17, 2004

(This signed article appeared in the May 17, 2004 issue of The Economic Times)

More Indian students are studying in the United States today than ever before. Home to the world's best educational institutions, the United States is always ready to accept qualified students from abroad.

The growth of the Indian student population in the U.S. has been phenomenal - doubling in just five years. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), a prestigious independent non-profit organization, for the second straight year more students from India are on U.S. campuses than from any other country - 74,603 in the academic year 2002-2003.

Educational Advising Centers under the U.S. Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) (www.fulbright-india.org) report record numbers of inquiries from Indians for future applications to American schools. For the second straight year, the USEFI offices in eight Indian cities received over 320,000 inquiries.

Some observers, however, have recently created the perception that it has become more difficult for students to get visas to study in the United States. Closer scrutiny of the issue reveals a very different picture.

On the one hand, the United States recognizes that to remain competitive it must do what is necessary to attract the best and the brightest. At the same time, the 9/11 attack made it clear that changes governing entry to and exit from the U.S. were necessary. To balance these issues, the U.S. invested heavily in technology and people to enhance two key objectives: keeping America open and ensuring more secure borders. Secretary of State Powell summed it up best when he said our motto is "Secure borders, open doors."

As we implement important measures to make our borders and the traveling public more secure, it is important to point out that these steps have not changed the criteria for issuing visas to visit or study in the United States.

Today more Indians travel to the United States than ever before. This year our Embassy and Consulates issued 12 percent more visas than over the same period in each of the last two years.
Moreover, the visa issuance rate for India is higher today than before 9/11.

Our improvements are making long waits a thing of the past, and further decreases are likely as the U.S. introduces more automated systems. Students in certain science fields may face an additional verification step, but this procedure affects only a handful of Indian applicants.

The SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) tracking system eliminates altogether the need to delay some student applications. Electronic fingerprinting will make it easier to verify that legitimate students and travelers qualify for visas. This will actually facilitate their entry into the U.S. And each year the Embassy makes a special effort to ensure all students are interviewed in time to make their first day of school. This year will be no exception.

These improvements result from a colossal investment in manpower, technology, facilities and new procedures. The State Department has hired and trained hundreds of new consular officers who are still coming on stream. We have built additional space for visa interviews around the world (including in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai) and installed new equipment to provide faster, more comprehensive information. We have revised application procedures and regulations under the watchful eye of the U.S. Congress to meet new standards.

We have accomplished all of this in less than three years and in two U.S. budget cycles, an impressive performance by any standard.

People with experience in large organizations should agree with this assessment. Having spent much of my career in the corporate world, I would be hard pressed to name a large company that has accomplished an equally significant restructuring in such a short period of time.

For the qualified Indian student, the United States places an impressive array of services and security at your disposal. You already have access to the full range of U.S. educational resources, and now you can rest assured knowing that America takes security and openness seriously, all with little or no inconvenience to you.

If you are considering future study in the United States, I urge you to bear in mind the investment we have made in you, to give you swift and safer access to the U.S. while also providing everybody in America with a greater sense of security.

We want you to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that attracted you to America in the first place and to give you the peace of mind that your security is our concern as well. America's opportunities include universities and colleges of all descriptions; student-friendly curricula; wonderful libraries and research facilities; a strong focus on innovation; approaches to research in many fields that distinguish the U.S. from all other countries; and the individual freedoms and openness of American society.

We want you to feel welcome in the United States -- a great and safe place to study.