Location: The Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium

The United States has historically presented invaluable opportunities to foreign students seeking to achieve advanced degrees for their own personal development as well as their countries’. The U.S. has benefited in turn from the infusion of diverse talents and perspectives these students bring to its universities. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks the need to track visitors entering and exciting the country moved to the center of the homeland security debate. But universities are concerned as new procedures before increasingly cumbersome, and foreign officials complain their citizens are being profiled- international graduate student applications are down 32 percent compared to a year ago and student visa applications are down 24 percent from 2001. Join us for a discussion of policy options that seek to address America’s security concerns, the need for strong academic institutions and programs, and the benefits gained from dynamic relationships with international scholars.