2009 Programs And Events
Fair Brings U.S. and European Colleges to Students in Uzbekistan (04/28/2009)
Hundreds of high school students came to Tashkent International School (TIS) on April 28 to learn about opportunities to study at U.S. and international universities.
Representatives from nine colleges and universities in the U.S. and eight in Europe came to the college fair, which was organized by the Council of International Schools with the help of TIS and the Educational Advising Center (EAC) at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent. It was the first time that a group of international college and university representatives had come to Uzbekistan to recruit students, but several of the representatives said it would not be the last time.
“The intent is to come back next year,” said Jacqueline Girard Vogl, the director of international student services at the State University of New York (SUNY) – Plattsburgh, who helped organize the tour. She pointed to the enthusiasm of the students for learning about opportunities to study abroad as one of the reasons that she thought Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole had great recruiting potential. “The students were asking remarkably informed questions. They seem eager to explore.”
Students from TIS and about 10 other international and local high schools packed into the school’s gymnasium to pepper the college representatives with questions about admissions, the programs they offer and financial aid that might be available. The students signed up to receive more detailed materials and came away with a better understanding of the process of applying to universities abroad, they said.
“It’s great for these students to have a chance to meet face-to-face with people from the universities,” said Mamie Heard, the secondary school principal at TIS. It’s also an opportunity to show recruiters that Uzbekistan can be a source of excellent students, she added. “It’s all about contacts.”
More than 620,000 international students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in the 2007-2008 school year, about 7 percent more than in the previous year.
U.S. institutions of higher education are popular among foreign students in part because they have such a wide range of programs and levels of affordability, said several of the college representatives at the fair.
Colleges and universities in the U.S. actively seek out foreign students for many reasons: They expand the diversity of the student body; they strengthen the educational experience of all students by their presence; and they are often some of the best students, the representatives said.
Because they are in high demand, colleges and universities often provide excellent financial aid packages to attract foreign students and provide a range of services to help them, from assistance in applying for visas to supporting international student clubs and housing.
EACs around the world, such as the one at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, also support students who are interested in studying in the U.S. The EAC provides access to materials on study in the U.S. and free consultations to discuss choosing a program, admissions, financial aid and other education matters.
Amy McGoldrick, who oversees EACs throughout Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, traveled with the representatives from colleges and universities on their tour of Central Asia. She met with students at the college fair and made a presentation the next day at the U.S. Embassy about opportunities to study in the U.S. She noted that the number of Central Asian students studying in the U.S. was up about 20 percent in the last academic year.
About 540 students from Uzbekistan studied in the U.S. in the 2007-2008 school year, a number significantly higher than the 386 who studied in the U.S. in 2002-2003. Uzbekistan’s rate of sending students to the U.S. is lower than that of other nations from the former Soviet Union, though, which can be seen as an opportunity to attract more students from Uzbekistan, McGoldrick said.
“I hope events like this will increase the number of Uzbek students studying in the U.S.,” she said of the college fair. “These schools would love more students from Uzbekistan. Diversity is a key for them.”
The U.S. colleges and universities represented at the fair included: Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts; Farleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey; Foothill and DeAnza Colleges in Los Altos Hills, California; Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa; Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida; Pepperdine University in Malibu, California; SUNY-Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh, New York; University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa; and Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa; as well as colleges and universities in Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.