CAROL’S SUMMARY: The economic crisis of the United States has affects overseas. With the value of the dollar falling, studying abroad for students in countries like China becomes more affordable. As a major world economic power, U.S students will do well to learn how these students think, work and apply themselves. Many US students will be working with employees from China and India once they graduate. The more exposure US students can get to these cultures while they are still in college, the better prepared they will be for the global world.
Questions to consider:
1. Have you considered studying abroad?
2. What are the benefits of continuing your studies in another country?
3. What perspective would you have after working a summer, semester or year in China?
4. What opportunities do you have in your own community to learn about cultures like China,
ARTICLE:
By MARA HVISTENDAHL, From the Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 2009
Shanghai
The Chinese news media has a name for the craze that has gripped students here in the past few years: “overseas study fever.†And despite the worsening global financial crisis and a slowing domestic economy, it shows little sign of letting up.
Chinese recruiters say a high household savings rate, a difficult job market, and a steady yuan combine to keep foreign study popular in China. That marks a significant difference from India (The Chronicle, January 9), where students who rely on loans to pay overseas tuition have had difficulty securing credit; and South Korea, where the plummeting won has made Western education increasingly unaffordable. Such troubles suggest that applications from those two countries to study in the United States could drop for this fall.
What happens in Asia is key to foreign-student enrollments in the United States. India, China, and South Korea are the top three source countries for American colleges, sending 94,600, 81,100, and 69,100 students, respectively, to the United States in 2007 (The Chronicle, November 21, 2008).
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