The pros and cons of studying abroad
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When I completed high school (in Algeria, a few decades ago), and having obtained high scores, I wanted to go to France for my higher education. For me, it meant quality education, personal independence, and the opportunity to experience a (very) different sociocultural environment. My father was agreeable to the idea, but my late mother (May God bless her with His grace) objected to the idea and vetoed it; she saw a significant risk of me “losing my soul.” I resented that at the time but later came to appreciate my mother’s wider considerations.
I recalled this episode in my life when I read the 2022 report on “Higher Education in Science and Engineering” published by the US National Science Board last February. The report contains data on various indicators, including female enrollments in various fields, the impact of online and distance education in the past few years, the status of US higher education globally, and — what interested me the most — data on international students (numbers, countries of origin, main fields of study, etc.) over the past 10 years.
Let me mention a few interesting tidbits from the report on various factors before focusing on international students. Women are approaching parity with men at most degree levels; in some fields (biology and social sciences) they constitute more than half of the graduates. There are, however, significant disparities in some fields, particularly engineering, computer sciences, and mathematics and statistics. More generally, science and engineering — S&E — graduates continue to increase on all indicators, and for international students (who currently number about 600,000 in the US) S&E represents the largest and constantly growing area of study.
Focusing on international students, the first surprise is that China sends the largest number of students to the US, followed by India, and 93 percent of those study science and engineering. However, when one considers various countries’ population numbers, Taiwan, Canada, Turkey, and Iran top the list in terms of percentages, with Saudi Arabia and Jordan not far behind. Interesting data, indeed.
Most countries have now established numerous universities, and practically all fields of study can be pursued in one’s home country.
Nidhal Guessoum
Secondly, the total number of international students in the US grew from about 635,000 in 2012 to 843,000 in 2016 (the second term of President Barack Obama), then declined gradually to 782,000 in 2019 (the first three years of President Donald Trump’s term in office), dropping to 605,000 in 2020 (a decline of almost 30 percent), mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before 2016, non-S&E students (social sciences, humanities, etc.) used to outnumber S&E students, but this has steadily come to be reversed. In S&E fields, more than half of the international students are in master’s or PhD degree programs, whereas in non-S&E fields about two-thirds of the international students are in undergraduate programs. The focus on S&E programs is most pronounced in students from our region: 74 percent of Saudi students, 91 percent of Egyptian students, 88 percent of Jordanians, 83 percent of Turkish students, and 95 percent of Iranians study science and engineering.
More generally, the report compares enrollments in higher education programs in the US to the rest of the world, particularly OECD (developed) countries, and notes the positive trend of larger and larger fractions of young (and sometimes not so young) adults pursuing higher education, deeming that “a proxy for human capital.” UNESCO and the World Bank regularly publish extensive data on education at all levels (from primary to doctoral), and one sees a continuing and strong increase in many parts of the world, including ours. Indeed, while often placing a financial burden on governments, in countries where most of higher education is free or quasi-free of charge, this is an important aspect of human development in many nations.
Back to what the report calls “internationally mobile students” — i.e, youngsters who study abroad — we may ask: Why do they do so, and is that a healthy phenomenon?
Most countries have now established numerous universities, and practically all fields of study can be pursued in one’s home country. Domestic education varies hugely in quality, but not everyone who studies abroad goes to a top university. Scholarships apply some quality-control criteria on the institutions and the programs that students may enroll in, but in my experience many could just as well get the same kind of higher education back home.
Beyond the quality of education, “internationally mobile students” are attracted to the personal independence and freedom of lifestyle and thought they get abroad. However, at a rather impressionable age (late teens), youngsters are often strongly affected by the cultural environment they live in, and they come back as significantly changed adults.
And that is why when it was my turn to decide whether my children should study abroad, I thought and acted like my mother: My children would go abroad only after completing their undergraduate education here in the UAE, where good-quality higher education is available. By the time they graduate, at the age of about 22, they will have developed enough robust personality and cultural identity to allow them to benefit from foreign environments and experiences without “losing their souls.”
• Nidhal Guessoum is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. Twitter: @NidhalGuessoum
