WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The hallowed U.S. college tradition of the junior year abroad, fondly remembered by millions of Americans as one of the high points of their youth, has fallen victim to the bureaucracy of anti-terrorism, and faces an anxious -- not to say uncertain -- future.
The 191,321 young Americans who went overseas to study in 2004 may not be quite the last of a dying breed, but getting there was a discouraging obstacle course. As a result, specialists fear that fewer and fewer students may be inclined to go through the hassle.
The issue has huge financial and cultural implications; and ultimately political ones as even fewer Americans, than is currently the case, will have first-hand knowledge of the outside world. But it has its origins in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when all other considerations were overwhelmed by one major concern -- security. Jolted by the attacks -- some of the terrorists had entered the country on student visas -- the U.S. government immediately tightened its scrutiny of visas granted to students.
Over the past two years, European governments have followed suit with visa restrictions of their own for American students wishing to study in their respective countries. As with the U.S. SEVIS (the new Student Exchange and Visitor Program), almost all applicants for visas to enter European countries to follow university courses must apply in person, and in many cases return to pick up the visa personally. Furthermore, visa interviews, scheduled at random, can take weeks to schedule in busy consulates.
"So far these are developing realities, we hear of them on a daily basis, but we do have a sense that other countries are tightening up their visa requirements along lines that we in the United States have already done," Vic Johnson, assistant executive director for public policy at the Washington-based National Association for International Educators told United Press International. Europe is the focus of greatest concern because most U.S. students choose to study in European cities, principally in Britain, Italy, Spain and France.
Requests for visas generally go through the consular section of an embassy (Spain, for example, has 10 consulates in U.S. cities), but typically, the applications are then relayed to the various European capitals for security screening, and in isolated instances to EU counter-terrorism experts for further scrutiny.
As a result, a process that pre-9/11 was for most American students short, sweet and prompt has now become long, complicated, and "generally difficult for the students and for ourselves," says Adrian Beaulieu, assistant dean for International Study at Smith College, Northampton, Mass., which has campuses or arranged courses with foreign universities in Florence, Geneva, Paris and Hamburg. Beaulieu's comment was echoed by other college administrators. The problem is compounded by different procedures and requirements even among consulates of the same country in different cities.
"There are variations from consulate to consulate, and it's a source of great frustration," Beaulieu said.
The reality is that most consulates are still not geared to deal with the increased requirements, and visa applications pile up. In November, for example, routine staff changes created a logjam at the Spanish Consulate in Chicago. There were hysterical calls from applicants fearing that delays would make them late for January courses in Spain. The consulate took in more staff to handle the database operations, and the applications were gradually processed.
Although the increased paperwork can create problems, what causes the most hardship is the personal appearance requirement, where previously a mailed request used to suffice. The Italian consular Web site, for example, specifies a student visa application has to be signed in the presence of a consular officer. Some countries insist the applicant pay a second visit to collect the visa once it is granted. Thus a student in Alaska who wants to study in Italy has to journey to the nearest Italian consulate, which is in San Francisco, and getting the required visa can cost almost as much as the intended college course overseas.
Security concerns clearly mounted in Europe following 9/11, and even more so after the terrorist bombings of commuter trains in Madrid on March 11, 2003. But some European diplomats in Washington say the new restrictions are to some extent structured in response to the U.S. measures. The strict U.S. visa-screening procedures now in force were introduced with more haste than judgment. Foreign student enrollment dropped as applicants were turned away.
The foreign student population on U.S. campuses went from an increase of 6.4 percent over the previous year in 2001, the year of 9/11, to no increase in 2002, and then a drop of 2.4 percent in 2003, when the full impact of the tighter regulations began to be felt. In 2004, enrollment numbers continued to drop, but by 1.3 percent. According to the New York-based Institute of International Education, there were 565,321 foreign students enrolled at U.S. institutions of higher learning in 2004.
European diplomats in Washington ruled out any suggestion of tit-for-tat, but one of them observed, "My country is as interested as the United States to see that no one can profit from a student visa to cross the border and do something terrible, but visa arrangements are usually bilateral so the issue is to some extent dealt with on the basis of reciprocity."
The U.S. government charges foreign students a processing fee of $100 for a visa, so Europeans reciprocate by slapping on an equivalent visa fee for U.S. students, whereas applicant from other European countries receive the visa for free.
"On the one hand you can see it's natural that EU countries look to ways to strengthen their border security, but on the other hand there's clearly feeling that 'they're doing it to us, so let's do it to them,'" Johnson of NAIE told United Press International. On Thursday, he recalled that when the U.S. government introduced its new student visa rules, his association -- which advances two-way international education -- warned official Washington, "Watch out, because out students want to go to their countries, too, and sooner or later their governments are going to do the same."
Experts don't expect any relaxation of European regulations until the United States offers a lead. But they believe there are signs the Bush administration may be having second thoughts about some of the more draconian aspects of its screening process. The personal appearance requirement, for one, is under review after U.S. college officials pointed out to Washington that there were only two U.S. consulates in all of China.
